Family
by Demenior
Summary: What was once considered a random kidnapping spree may have dire consequences on the outcome of the war against Cronus, and may also bring home some painful truths for some of our heroes. As a team, the seven heroes uncover and have to stop a plot that has been in action from the time they were born.
1. Chapter 1

**Notes:** Hello everyone, long time no see! I apologize for awful formatting here, I've become so accustomed to Ao3 that I've forgotten how to make documents compatible with . With that said, this is also x-posted on Ao3 (my name's the same). As such, enjoy!

**Warnings:** This is teen for a reason, as there is some surgical getting all up inside somebody's arm and stuff, and later chapters will get rougher. Mild swearing.

* * *

><p>"There is nothing better than fighting," Archie declared, "not even pizza."<p>

Theresa snorted, "Sounds like somebody got a little worked up."

Archie limped over to join the rest of the group. They'd just driven off several of Cronus' giants, but had seen no sign of the titan himself.

"Yo are you okay?" Odie asked, coming up behind him.

Archie shrugged, "It stings a bit but I'll be fine, don't worry."

Odie shuffled from foot to foot, "Look, thanks, uh, for taking that hit for me. Sorry you got hurt though- are you sure you're okay? It looked really bad from where I was standing."

"Nah," Archie waved him off, "I love taking a hit."

"Well that explains why I always kick your ass in training," Herry laughed.

Archie rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean! The thrill! Hitting things, getting hit!" He slammed his fist into his palm.

"You're adorable," Atlanta chided, but she was flushed from the fight still and bouncing on her toes, "but yeah, I get it."

"I think it comes with the whole 'hero' territory," Herry said. He gave Neil a good-natured slap on the back, "right?"

"Hero_ine_," Theresa reminded him, "Atlanta and I kick twice the amount of ass you do."

Herry whistled, "Them's fighting words, Theresa."

"C'mon children," Jay called from near Herry's truck, "stop playing around before you actually do start fighting."

Theresa and Herry laughed, linking arms and walking back to Herry's tuck together.

"Yes dad!" Neil shouted.

Atlanta tapped Archie's leg with her own, "You sure you're okay?" she asked, "I didn't see anything but if Odie's worried…"

Archie stood on his injured foot, bounced a few times, "I'm fine, serious. Odie's a worrywart."

"Am not," Odie snapped, "but I think you should get Chiron to look at it."

"Race you!" Atlanta shouted, relieved that her friend was okay.

The two of them nearly hit Odie on their rush out, "Not fair you cheater!" Archie whined.

* * *

><p>"Dude you need to get your leg looked at," Odie said, "I am <em>sure<em> I saw it break. It's fractured for sure."

"But I'm fine!" Archie protested. Jay made him sit sideways out of the truck while he felt Archie's thigh for any internal injury.

"Ow!" Archie winced, "it's not broken but it still _hurts_!"

"It doesn't feel… right," Jay said, "like, you feel really hot right here—Herry, _don't_—but it's probably not broken."

"It'd be really swollen and red," Theresa commented, "that's how my arm was when I broke it."

Archie jumped out of the truck, "Exactly! I'm fine, just don't touch it! It'll bruise up tomorrow."

"Plus you shouldn't be able to walk," Atlanta shrugged, "you're a big baby. I'd have to carry you because you'd be crying everywhere."

Archie maturely stuck his tongue out at her.

"Go get it checked out anyways," Jay said, "better safe than sorry."

"Think I pulled something in my shoulder," Herry said, "I'll come with you."

For lack of anything interesting to do—and to see if he was right—Odie decided to tag along to Chiron's study.

* * *

><p>"You think it's broken?" Chiron laughed.<p>

"Well, Odie does," Archie said.

"You walked into the room on it, it's not broken," Chiron snorted.

"Yo, I _saw_ it break. Something is for sure cracked in there, okay?" Odie said, "trust me on this!"

"Odie it's _my_ leg. I feel like I'd know if something was wrong," Archie shrugged.

He was sitting up on an examination bench Chiron had set up several months ago, leg up so Chiron could inspect is magically while his other leg swung back and forth.

"Yes," Chiron nodded, still laughing to himself, "just leave the medical examinations to—" he frowned, his hands hovering over Archie's thigh.

Archie's eyebrows lifted, "Is something broken?"

"I—my skills are a little rusty. Let me fetch Persephone. Something isn't quite right, but we'll have it taken care of shortly," Chiron said, then trotted off down the hall.

"If it was broken I'd feel it, right?" Archie glanced to Herry and Odie for backup.

"You and Chiron just told me to stop diagnosing," Odie shrugged, "so I'm going to laugh if I'm right."

"Adrenaline high?" Herry offered, "like those crazy guys all hyped up on drugs that keep going even after they've been shot like ten times?"

Archie looked torn between laughing or being angry, "Dude _what_? Like hell I'd go down after ten shots—it'd take twenty at least. And I'd get away."

Odie snorted, "Arch it'd take one warning shot and you'd be on the ground crying," he paused, "actually, you're stupid when you're aggressive. Warning shot and then like one in your arm. You'd cry and Atlanta would have to carry you to the hospital."

Archie flipped him a middle finger salute and Herry laughed.

Chiron and Persephone moved back into the room. Archie lifted his leg up onto the bench for them.

Persephone's hands glowed as she moved her hands up Archie's leg, starting from his ankle. She was feeling with magic for anything out of the ordinary. She stopped over Archie's thigh and gasped.

"Did you walk on this?" she asked.

"You feel it?" Chiron asked, digging his fingers into Archie's skin as if he could physically feel whatever was shocking them. Archie tried to pull away from the discomfort.

"Is it broken?" Archie demanded.

"Cut it off!" Odie added helpfully.

"Shut up!" Archie snapped, trying to push Chiron's hands away.

"You don't feel any pain?" Persephone asked, "is that normal for mortals?"

"Yeah it's bruised! Stop touching it!" Archie told her.

"In some cases mortals do not feel their pain," Chiron told her.

"What's going on?" Archie asked again.

"Your bone is _shattered_," Persephone said, "I am not well-versed in mortal bodies but you should be in extreme pain."

Archie, Herry and Odie were all staring at Archie's leg. It looked totally normal.

"But… I can't feel it—the bone. Or break. I can't feel it," Archie said, as if that explained everything, "I can't feel it," his voice started to get shrill and high, "why can't I feel it? If it's broken then why can't I feel it? I walked on it!"

"There's something else," Persephone said, "there's something holding your bone together."

She scratched Archie's scraped knee, taking off the scab and tasting the blood off of her fingertips. Herry gagged loudly while Archie whimpered.

"Have you taken any medication for pain yet?" she asked.

Archie, eyes wide and rendered mute in shock and horror, just shook his head.

"Your blood is full of pain medication," Persephone said.

"There's something holding it together?" Odie asked, having long accepted that the gods did _weird_ things, "like ligaments? The body does have some natural painkillers."

"Like… a cast—a web, wrapping around the broken pieces," Chiron said, "I believe the bone is already healing."

"Someth—what is it?" Archie whimpered.

Chiron shook his head, "I'm not sure."

Persephone took Archie's wrist in her hands, "Archie, sweetie, do you trust me?"

The way she was holding his arm made Archie start to shake.

"I will heal it immediately," she said, as if that made everything okay.

"I need to leave!" Herry shouted, sprinting for the door.

Odie lunged forwards, trying to get a calming hand into the increasingly frantic fray, "Hold on! There's no need to get drastic!" he cried.

"It's not—you don't understand. This thing, in your body Archie—it's living. But it's not human," Persephone explained, "I can feel it. There's something inside of you and it's running through your body, and because of it I don't think you can feel this!"

On 'this' she snapped Archie's wrist between her hands. Archie screamed, white hot pain flaring up his arm. Odie was shouting and waving his hands. Chiron and Persephone were both looking into Archie's wrist, the entire sequence apparently not bothering them. The doors to Chiron's study burst open as Hera and Jay, led by Herry, ran into the room.

Archie's arm didn't hurt anymore. He'd stopped screaming and was staring in horror at his hand.

"Persephone!" Hera was furious. Herry sagged into a chair, unable to handle the sight of Archie's hand at an angle to his arm, and Odie rushed at him with a bucket.

Archie couldn't take his eyes off of his own wrist. He felt _fine_, even though his fingers were nearly perpendicular to the rest of his arm. He flexed his fingers, and they responded as if nothing was wrong. Nothing felt _weird_ other than the sight of his hand at an angle it should _not_ be at. His head felt light as if he'd stood up too fast.

Archie's wrist suddenly cracked loudly, halting all of the yelling in the room, and they all watched as Archie's wrist realigned itself of its own accord.

Odie wasn't fast enough with the bucket, but thankfully Jay had been moving to stand beside Archie and was able to get the wastebin under Archie in time.

"What the hell?" Archie screamed as he vomited, "what's wrong with me? Get it out! Get it out!"

Persephone reached for him and Archie tore his arm out of her reach, "Not you!"

Hera was much gentler, taking Archie's wrist between her hands, and she frowned at what she could feel, "It's still broken."

"I know it's broken I just watched it happen!" Archie shouted, "she broke it but I can't feel it oh my god what's _inside me_?"

"We don't know," Chiron said, "I've never seen anything like this."

"Heal his bones," Hera commanded, "and then the children will go home. Unless there's any danger?"

"It just seems to be healing him," Persephone said, "but I would need to get a better look."

"Not today," Hera said.

"It's going to require surgery," Chiron said, "to see exactly what we're dealing with. I need to see it with my own eyes."

Jay was rubbing Archie's back while he hyperventilated. Persephone was mending the bones in Archie's wrist, while Chiron dealt with his leg.

"I'm taking him home now," Jay announced, "we'll talk later about all of this."

Chiron handed Archie some pills, "These will help calm you down and put you to sleep. All you need right now is rest."

Archie took them in a shaking hand. Jay coaxed him to let go of the wastebin and then Archie let Jay guide him out of the room. Odie and Herry followed close behind. None of them wanted to be around when Hera lost her temper.

* * *

><p>Archie still looked on the verge of hysterics during their walk home, and he was barely holding himself together.<p>

"My arm and my leg are broken but I'm _fine_! Anyone have anything else they want to add to today's crazy?"

Herry groaned nauseously at the memory.

"Hold on big guy," Odie said softly.

"My name isn't Jay," Jay offered.

The other three stopped, "What?" The following silence stretched on and on.

"Keep moving," Jay finally ushered them into walking again.

"How is that even relevant?" Archie demanded, "I am a freak of nature and you're suddenly living under an alias?"

"I also drowned as a kid," Jay added helpfully, "like legally dead, heart stopped and everything."

Archie threw his arms up in frustration, "Who _are_ you?"

"The guy trying to get you all home," Jay said, "no—keep walking. Herry, dude, c'mon hold it together."

The four of them walked the two blocks home without Herry puking until they got inside. Archie had gone pale and quiet in his shock, despite Jay trying to prompt him out of it. Odie and Jay directed him into the living room to sit on the couch.

Theresa and Neil had been watching a talk show and were on their feet when the three boys walked in.

"What happened?" Theresa asked, pulling a discarded sweater out of the way to make room for Archie.

Archie snapped out of his stupor at her voice, and pointed at Jay, "He's a liar!"

"Something's up with Archie," Jay explained.

"Obviously," Neil snorted.

"Persephone broke his wrist," Odie said.

"What?" Neil and Theresa shouted at the same time.

Archie made a loud whining sound and started hyperventilating again.

"I was also kidnapped by a human trafficking ring," Jay said quickly, sitting down beside Archie.

"Who are you?" Archie demanded in a near sob as Neil exclaimed, "What the _hell_?"

"Get some water," Jay told Odie.

'Arch you have to take the pills and calm down. There's nothing to be done right now, everything's okay," Jay turned to Neil and Theresa, "he's in shock so I've been trying to distract him from getting worked up."

Theresa sat down on Archie's other side and started rubbing circles on his back. Odie returned with water and Archie swallowed the three tablets at once, nearly choking himself.

"Was his leg broken? Why did Persephone break his wrist?" Theresa asked.

Odie nodded, "They said it was shattered—totally broken. But there's something in Archie that's holding it together and healing him. Something not human."

"Like a tapeworm?" Neil asked.

Archie snorted but made no move to berate Neil like he normally would have.

Jay shrugged, "it's giving him painkillers and keeping him functioning. We don't know how it got there—but we saw it fix Archie's wrist when Persephone broke it to see what would happen. There's no way to tell if it's good or bad just yet."

"I just want to know how it got there," Odie said, "and how long it's been there."

Archie lifted his head, barely able to hold himself up and looked at Jay, "What's your real name?" he slurred.

Jay smiled, "You won't believe me. And you'll laugh."

"Will not," Archie said, struggling to make his face look neutral.

"It's Jerome," Jay admitted.

Archie snorted so hard water came out of his nose.

"So you see," Jay said, "you think you're in pain right now. You haven't felt pain until your parents name you Jerome."

Archie pitched forwards into Jay's shoulder, laughing until he was shaking. Theresa and Jay manhandled him onto his side so that he was lying across the couch.

"Jerome," Archie was still laughing.

Herry brought a bucket from the kitchen to put underneath Archie, while Neil grabbed the extra blanket from under the entertainment system to throw on top of Archie.

"I just want him to sleep where we can keep an eye on him," Jay explained, "I'd be freaking out if I went through what he just did."

"Jerome?" Theresa finally asked, stifling a laugh.

"That's nothing," Odie said, "were you serious about being kidnapped? About drowning?"

Jay shrugged, giving nothing away, "You guys all assumed I was boring because I'm responsible. I've got tons of great stories."

* * *

><p>Archie's never had this dream before, not of this house or these particular people, but he recognizes the start of it. He's had so many variations over the years. This is the house he doesn't remember and these must be the parents he's never met.<p>

It's blurred like he's trying to paint but used too much water—everything's overflowing its lines and mixing into unintelligible messes. He can't make sense of any perspective and only has a sense of movement. Time is slipping between his fingers.

He's aware of the tension in his dream only after it's broken, and the splash of maroon across his vision only makes sense when Archie realizes it's coming from him and he's smearing it across the entire painting. It's obscuring everything Archie might have attempted to make sense of. He knows he's done something bad—this is something he should be afraid of. This might not be a good dream but Archie is laughing.

Somewhere in front of him, in the haze, are his parents—the real parents he finally stopped dreaming about— and he knows them by placeholders rather than any discernable features. He knows there is something he should be paying attention to but he can't see through the gloom.

Archie wakes up to his stomach lurching and he thinks he's going to be sick. He's trembling and sweating and falls off of the couch with a shout.

He's never been so terrified in his entire life.

* * *

><p>"You sure you're okay?" Odie asked over breakfast, "like dude you were full on screaming when you woke up."<p>

Archie finished his water, waving Odie's concern away with a lazy gesture, "Yeah, I'm fine. Whatever drugs Chiron gave me—really messed up dreams and I didn't know where I was, ya know?"

"What were you dreaming about?" Herry asked.

"My parents," Archie said quickly, "like—not my real ones, but just people that could have been them."

Neil snorted, "And the thought of actually meeting them was that scary?"

Archie rolled his eyes, "Obviously other stuff happened, but just forget about it."

"Do you think you'll ever find them," Jay asked conversationally, "like I know it's not a high likelihood, with _all_ the kids that got kidnapped, but I managed to find my parents again."

"About that," Archie nodded, "I was really outta my mind—but are you telling me you're one of the kids who made it home?"

Jay nodded, "Yeah. I mean, I was still missing for six months and," he shrugged, "zero idea what happened to me. I don't even remember being grabbed, but my parents said it was the whole sketchy mobile home grabbing us off the street—"

"Us?" Theresa asked.

Jay bit his lip, suddenly looking nervous, "Yeah. Me and, uh, my big brother."

"I didn't know you had a brother!" Herry sat up, "why didn't you tell—oh. _Oh_," he realized.

Jay nodded grimly, "Yeah. I made it home, but Jason never did."

"Jason?," Neil said, "what's the deal with the name thing?"

Jay laughed weakly at that, "Yeah, well, when I finally came home I guess I looked a lot like my brother did when we were taken, and so my parents kept starting to call me Jason, and then they'd realize it was the wrong kid and stop halfway. I eventually just told them to start calling me Jay—it's better than Jerome in any case. And it just kinda stuck—which I have to add that if you start calling me Jerome I'll kill you."

Archie snorted again at Jay's real name.

"I shouldn't laugh," he chuckled to himself, "at least you have a real name. I just got named after the first thing I showed any interest in after social services found me."

Atlanta barked a laugh, "Could you imagine if it was something worse? You could be like, Marmaduke or Charlie Brown!"

Archie was laughing too hard to come up with a witty retort.

Theresa slid closer to Jay, "How are you doing? That's a lot to drop in one sitting."

"I'm good," Jay smiled, but it was a little strained.

She sighed, settling back against the counter, "I didn't… I thought Archie was the only one of us who was affected by that kidnapping spree," she admitted, "I mean, my parents increased our security and I actually had a bodyguard for a few years, but I didn't know anyone and no one tried to get me."

"A few people tried to grab me," Neil said, "but I always got away."

"That's why my parents left me with Granny," Herry offered, "they figured it would be harder to find me out on the farm. Then once I was older she ended up moving into the city and I just stayed with her."

Odie drummed his fingers on the table, "I remember the foster system was real tight for a while, and my foster parents at the time were really scared. But nothing ever happened to me, thank god."

"Wow," Atlanta said, "I mean, we were super cut off from the news up north, but even we heard about all the kidnappings going on. Nothing happened—like we were too small a town for any stranger to come and go without being noticed, but we were even scared about it. But like, even then I didn't realize it was that big."

"Shit's crazy," Archie said, shrugging, "life's crazy. But it's cool that we—hold on! One last thing Jay—you said you _drowned_! Dude what happened?"

"That's how I was found, actually," Jay said, "early morning fishermen found me in the water when they went to head out in the morning. I'd been in the water for hours, no idea how I got there, and even though they tried CPR they couldn't revive me. The ambulance showed up like ten minutes later and they were able to get my heart started, but I didn't wake up for like three days."

"How far away from home were you?" Odie asked.

"Crazy part," Jay said, "we were living in Greece at the time, and I was found in Gabon."

"Where?" Herry asked slowly.

"African country—uh, it's in the middle, on the Atlantic side," Jay explained, "but pretty far away from Greece. Took a while for me to contact my parents and get home." It was a weak joke.

"Too bad I never made it home—my parents could probably shed some light on this whole super healing thing going on," Archie, rather bluntly, changed topics. He flexed the hand that Persephone had broken, rotating his wrist as if testing that it actually was properly healed.

"Have we talked to Chiron about when—actually— what day is it?" he asked.

Atlanta grinned, "You were only asleep for the night."

"It's Saturday," Theresa told him, "don't freak out. But you're out of bed before noon so that's an improvement."

"Chiron wants to do it today, if you're up for it," Odie informed Archie.

Archie plastered on a confident grin, "Of course I'm up for it. Why wouldn't I be?"

* * *

><p>Archie was obviously nervous about coming back to Chiron's study. The last time he'd been in Persephone had broken his wrist and he'd watched it heal itself. Thankfully the goddess was staying back, though her presence still made him a little wary. On top of that he'd never been fond of doctors or needles or anything that involved <em>things<em> being put into his body. Considering he'd never been sick a day in his life, he'd never really visited a doctor before. Supposedly it was silly to be afraid, but fear of the unknown on top of too many late-night 'ER Accident' marathons had Archie's heart pounding against his ribs.

Atlanta bumped against his side, offering a little support without making it obvious. If she did, he'd have to make some joke about being too cool to be scared. Archie didn't want to admit it, since it was plainly obvious, but there was something _foreign_ in his body that he hadn't known about and had no idea how it got there. He was plenty scared.

Hera was present as well, which made Archie feel a little more secure that no one was going to surprise him by breaking another one of his bones to test a theory.

"Alright, Archie, can I get you to sit up here," Chiron asked.

They'd set out a long metallic table that looked exactly like an operating table from all of the medical shows Neil and Jay loved to watch.

"You guys seriously don't have to all stay," Archie told the others. He wasn't sure if he wanted them around or not, but he was trying to maintain his act of 'too cool for this'.

"And miss you cry for like two hours? Not a chance," Neil snorted.

"I'm out," Herry said quickly, waving, "sorry man, not a chance."

Theresa stomped on Neil's foot, "We're here for support, but if you don't want us here we can leave," she said.

"What's the plan?" Jay asked Chiron.

"We are going to open up Archie's wrist in order to see what exactly is correcting the broken bones, and hopefully figure out what it is. If we can do that then we might be able to determine where it came from."

"No biggie," Archie muttered, hopping up on the table.

"You'll be fine," Odie said, "besides, I'm sure somebody here will hold your hand if you get too scared." He nudged Archie in the ribs conspiratorially.

"I _will_ hit you," Archie retorted, making a fist, "I don't know if you noticed but I can hit hard enough to break my hand and walk away now."

"Children," Hera said, interrupting them, "we'd like to do this sooner rather than later."

Persephone moved forwards slowly, smiling almost shyly at Archie.

"Persephone is going to be aiding Chiron today," Hera gave Archie a look that allowed no arguments, "we hope to have this done quickly so we can determine exactly what we are dealing with."

"Aliens," Neil hissed.

Theresa nudged him again.

Atlanta moved over to the table, "Can I watch?" she asked excitedly.

Archie's brow furrowed, "Why would you want to watch? They're gonna cut me open- hold on are you giving me any painkillers for this?"

"You technically don't need them," Persephone said, and then laughed when Archie's eyebrows hit his hairline, "I'm kidding. Yes, you'll have painkillers. We're going to make sure you don't feel a thing."

Archie let out a relieved sigh.

"What if it's like a chest burster?" Atlanta asked, "and once it's exposed to daylight it's gonna jump out and we're gonna have to fight it?"

"Not helping," Archie muttered. She laughed and propped herself up on her elbows.

"You'll be fine," Jay said, patting his back, "but we have to stay out of Chiron and Persephone's way," he gave Atlanta a pointed look and she sighed dramatically, stepping away from the table.

Chiron and Persephone had Archie lay down on the far side of the table, with his arm extended perpendicular to him so that his hand was just hanging off the edge, leaving his wrist completely accessible.

"We can put up a curtain if you'd prefer not to watch," Chiron said.

"No, no," Archie said dismissively, not wanting to watch his arm get sliced open at all except for the fact that all his friends were watching, "it's fine. I'll close my eyes if I need to."

He purposely blinked so that he didn't have to watch Chiron stick him with a needle, and tried not to panic as his entire arm went numb.

"Are you sure this is entirely sanitary?" Archie asked when he heard the sound of scalpels and knives being pulled out.

"Probably not," Chiron said, "but your body is immune to illness, so we don't have to take as many precautions."

"Right," Archie bit his lip, "lucky me."

He felt the pressure of the blade Chiron was using, and made the mistake of glancing over just as Chiron opened up his wrist from the heel of his palm to halfway up his forearm. From across the room he heard groans of disgust and- probably Atlanta or Odie- a gasp of excitement.

"Archie. Calm," Persephone said the instant his heart rate spiked.

Archie drew in a ragged breath and squeezed his eyes shut. He could feel _pressure_ but no actual pain or other sensations. He knew that Chiron was cutting into his arm right now, exposing parts of him that had no business being exposed to the world because they were supposed to be _inside_ of him. He tried to block all of that out and instead focused on other things. Things like…

Archie couldn't think of anything to distract himself other than the fact that his arm was being torn apart and he was just lying there and letting it happen.

* * *

><p>"Oh my word!"<p>

Archie may or may not have blacked out a little bit, and he'd never admit to it, but Chiron's startled words were the first thing he really registered hearing.

"What?" he nearly bolted upright but Persephone pushed him back down, "what is it?"

Archie craned his neck, struggling to lift himself so he could see what was going on.

His arm was pinned open, and there was a shocking lack of blood compared to what he was expecting. He tried not to gag as he looked at the white expanse of his own bones, and then his stomach dropped as he saw something _move_.

It was thin, and for a gut-wrenching moment Archie thought it was one of his veins, but then it moved unlike anything else in his arm was moving. While it was covered in fluid, the wire was distinctly metal. Persephone froze it with magic, slowly pulling it out. Archie was vaguely aware of everyone else crowding around, staring in mute horror, at the thing in his arm.

The wire extended up his arm, and instead of trying to pull the entire thing out, Chiron cut off the end of it, and Persephone moved it onto the table.

"What is that?" Archie stammered, "what is that thing?"

"It looks mechanical," Odie said.

"There were more," Chiron gestured, "like wires, but they moved away from my scalpel."

Archie nearly told him 'who wouldn't run from a knife?' but held his tongue.

"Okay so there's wires? Why? Is this what's healing-" he stopped, eyes focused on his arm.

Like snakes or tentacles or spiders legs, several strands of silver metal had risen up out of Archie's arm. They hesitated for a moment, and then went for the pins holding the wound open. Archie was frozen in shock. The wires pushed the pins out, and as they all watched, they started sewing Archie's arm back together from the inside-out.

Archie didn't realize he was screaming until Jay was telling him to calm down.

The cut on Archie's arm sealed and they were all staring at his pale, unmarked wrist. Like nothing had ever happened.

"I'm gonna-" Archie managed to say before he blacked out.

* * *

><p>Archie woke up to the smell of something <em>terrible<em>. He shoved it away as he opened his eyes, to see all six friends, Hera, Chiron, Dionysus and Persephone all standing over him.

"Did I talk in my sleep?" he joked, "why are you all—oh. Oh _shit_."

"Are you going to puke again?" Herry demanded.

Archie sat up slowly and held his arm out in front of him. It was perfectly pale and unmarred. As if he hadn't been open to the bone just a little while ago. He traced the skin where Chiron had cut him—where Archie had _seen_ his arm cut open. It felt perfectly normal.

"Okay," Archie let out a shaky breath, "hit me. What are we dealing with here?"

Everyone stepped back when it was obvious he wasn't going to faint again. Archie continued rubbing his wrist and glanced between all of their faces.

Chiron let out a loud huff, tapping his hooves on the carpet, "Well to be completely honest, we aren't entirely sure what it is. It's mechanic in nature, and doesn't seem to be alive, but it's also something I have never seen before."

"But it's also very organic," Dionysus continued, "I did some tests on the sample removed from your arm, and while it's mostly made of metals, it is also organic."

Archie glanced at his friends, "and in English?"

"It grows—it's, well, it's not alive, but it's alive," Odie was straining to explain himself plainly, "like, it's like a parasite, I think? It got into you somehow and it's been growing. Along with you—_into_ you. And since you're its host it's taking care of your body. That's why you can't feel broken bones and why it can fix you up. But from what we gather it's not like a bodysnatcher alien thing, but something man-made. A machine that learns and grows."

"Something humans should not be capable of," Hera added.

"Who said anything about learning?" Archie asked.

Odie gave Archie an 'are you serious' look, "Arch, it figured out that it had to take the pins out of your arm in order to close the wound. It learns. And it might just remember."

Archie shuddered, "Okay, how do we get it out?"

Chiron sighed loudly, "I don't think we can."

Archie's head whipped around to face the centaur, "What?" he snapped, "what does that mean? Why not?"

"It… if this thing has been growing, and it is in your arm _and_ in your leg, then I think we have to assume that it is in every part of your body, Archie. And it is so deeply entwined with every part of you that it is next to impossible to separate you and this thing," Chiron explained.

"Dionysus has said he will have a working machine in the next few hours that will allow us to see how far this machine has grown," Hera said, "we will also be scanning the rest of you for any further abnormalities. But as of right now Archie we are going to assume that it is not malicious in nature and is only better helping you to survive."

Archie put his head in his hands, "Okay, anyone have anything else to add?"

"Well," Jay started slowly, "there's one more thing."

"What?" Archie rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. As if he needed one more thing to worry about.

"So that piece we cut out of you—that Dionysus tested? Well, it's dead and falling apart. Like, it's rotting," Jay went on carefully.

"That's gross," Archie agreed with Herry's nauseous expression.

"We—I—want to cut open your wrist again," Odie said, and Archie drew his arm tightly to his chest, "that little bit—it, okay this is going to sound _really_ weird, but the end of it changed shape a few times and when we had it near a computer we were recording some data on, well, it kinda started to look like a usb drive."

"That's really weird," Archie agreed.

"So I think if we can access that part we cut again, I mean the thing's an organic machine so it heals itself, but if we can get back in I think I can plug you into my laptop and then maybe hack it and see what's what with your Yeerk."

Odie looked around his friends for support, who all gave him blank faces.

"His what?" Neil asked.

Odie sighed, "Okay, sorry, it was a really bad reference and Yeerk's go in your brain, whatever. Point being, it's a machine and that means I can make it tell me what it's for."

"That's from Animorphs, right?" Theresa turned to Herry.

Herry's eyes lit up, "Oh man I _loved_ those books!"

"Guys! I'm being serious!" Odie pleaded.

"You… you think you can hack it?" Archie asked nervously.

"Yeah, I can hack anything," Odie shrugged, "and if it'll connect to my laptop, we are good to go. Besides, we have to hang out for a few hours until we can all get a scan. What's the harm?"

Archie wanted to say 'the harm is me slicing my arm open again' but then realized that didn't really matter anymore. He could go through hell and probably come out looking just fine. It finally explained why he always had the fastest recovery time for bruises and scrapes they got in battle and no scars. He'd hoped it had been something passed down from Achilles but apparently all he got from his ancestor was a wonky heel.

About that…

"If this heals me then why is my heel still bad? And," Archie patted his thigh, "I have a scar, right here. Why?"

Dionysus straightened his glasses, "Well, my theory is that your heel is a genetic trait, and therefore cannot be healed through purely physical means, and you must have received the scar before this… Odie, what did you call, oh yes—before your Yeerk was implanted."

Neil and Atlanta started laughing.

Archie gave the god an incredulous look, "We are not calling it that. No way in hell are we using 90's slang for this."

"So can we do it?" Odie asked hopefully.

Archie shrugged, summoning his bravado because everyone had seen him screaming and fainting already, so it was no secret he was scared, "Yeah. Why not, right?"

"Okay, but," Theresa added in, "Odie are you gonna cut him open, because Archie sure won't be."

Odie flinched, "Oh, um, yeah. Nope. I don't even wanna touch it."

"I'm going to go be _not_ _here_," Herry informed them all.

"As much as I enjoy seeing Archie cry, I'm with the big guy," Neil waved a brief goodbye and followed Herry out.

Chiron stepped forwards, "I can help you here, children."

"Thank god," Archie sighed, "no offense guys, but I really don't trust any of you to play doctor on me."

Chiron picked up a scalpel, just as Archie's stomach rumbled. His ears turned pink in embarrassment.

"Lunch is actually a great idea," Jay said, "can we take a break and get back to this?"

Hera nodded sagely, "A little rest and food would do us all well. I'll have Athena make you all something."

* * *

><p>At least two hours later (lunch had taken a little while to cook, and there had been a <em>lot<em> of it) Archie was back on Chiron's operating table and very firmly not looking at his arm, which Chiron was sticking tweezers in trying to grab the end of the piece that they'd cut earlier. Archie was trying to hum a song, but of course none were coming to mind, so he was just making noise. Atlanta was tapping her fingers against his ankle brace, watching whatever Chiron was doing with too much fascination for anyone _normal_.

"It's kinda like when we'd skin deer," she commented helpfully, "though not as much blood."

Archie resisted the urge to kick her.

"Got it," Chiron finally said, "Odie, are you ready?"

"Yeah," Odie replied weakly, moving in close, "I regret everything I said this was the worst idea I have ever had." He patted his computer, "baby please forgive me because we are about to do something really nasty."

"I can hear you!" Archie said loudly, though he still refused to look at his arm.

"Okay, ew, ew, gross, ew, and—there!" Odie narrated.

"Is it working?" Theresa asked, leaning over Odie's shoulder.

"Hold on," he said quietly, opening a few programs and letting them search to see if he could detect Archie. Which was weird to think about.

"Could you make him twitch is leg—like when the doctor hits your knee?" Atlanta asked.

"Only if—wow, oh wow there he—you—are. I've got you!" Odie shouted. The room was filled with the sound of his fingers flying over his keyboard.

"Children," Hera moved into the room, "Dionysus is ready for you now. One at a time, if you could make your way down to his lab?"

"We'll take turns," Jay agreed, "Archie and Odie last so you two can have some time to work on this. Herry and Neil, you two wanna go?"

"Gladly," Herry threw down his newspaper and fled the room.

"So check this," Odie said, "it's heavily encrypted. Like—probably better than most governments'."

"And how would you know that?" Theresa asked coyly.

Odie nodded slowly, aware of both Jay and Theresa hovering over his shoulders, "I obviously have not and will never hack any government system because that would be wrong. And I would never do it to settle a bet."

"What kind of bet?" Atlanta prompted.

Odie flashed her a grin, "I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

Archie snorted, "And if anyone cares, no I can't feel anything yet."

They all fell silent after that, letting Odie work. He frowned and muttered to himself as he worked, and Archie kept his eyes closed and tried to pretend he was having a post-lunch nap. Thinking about the fact that his arm was cut open and he was _plugged in_ to a computer was really freaking him out.

He felt something shift in his arm after a few minutes, "I think it's onto us," he announced, stomach lurching, "you probably only have a few more seconds before it heals."

Jay, Theresa and Atlanta all leaned over curiously to watch, as Odie tapped faster at his keyboard. The cut Chiron had made was a lot smaller than the first, but even still, it started closing at the ends just like the first one had. Little threads of metal all came together, stitching every level of Archie together seamlessly. Archie lifted his head to watch the end, to confirm that nothing would go wrong in healing him.

The strand that was hanging out of him, attached to Odie's laptop, stayed out. The wound healed around it, leaving it out.

"Gross," Archie groaned.

Odie glanced over at it, "Sweet," he grinned, "also gross, but mostly awesome. It's not gonna interrupt me."

"Yes," Archie draped his other arm over his face, "Just perfect."

Herry and Neil returned—just to let Theresa and Atlanta know they could go down to see Dionysus now—and then the two of them went to find somewhere to watch TV.

"So how's it going?" Jay asked.

"Remember when I said it was pretty well encrypted, like, y'know, better than some of the more secure places in the world?" Odie asked, and Jay nodded, "well, it's better than _that_. It's literally changing as I work, like, it's learning. But I think I managed to uncover one file, and so I'm just focusing on getting that out. Another time, and maybe with a little more power, I can try and break through, but for now if I can get a little info on this thing then that'll help us in the long run."

"Good work," Jay said.

"This is very difficult," Odie reminded him.

Jay laughed quietly and patted Odie's shoulders, "Gosh, Odie, you're just so smart. Where would we be without you making all the hard work look easy."

Odie nodded approvingly, "That sounds much better."

Jay leaned over to pat Archie's ribs, "How you holding up?"

Archie cracked an eye open, "As good as can be expected, I guess. Seriously though, I don't feel anything. Like, this is really, really weird. But I guess that's just our lives now. I think I'm over panicking."

"Oh my god!" Odie shouted.

"What?" Archie nearly bolted upright before Odie startled laughing.

"I'm going to kill you," Archie snarled.

Odie wiped a fake tear from his eye, "You're just so funny when you're freaking out. Oh man I wish Neil was here for that."

Jay gave Odie a reprimanding hit on the back of his head, "Odie, back to work. Archie's been through enough today, and as Leader I'm issuing a 'Don't-Pester-Archie' policy for the next 48 hours."

Odie sighed, "Fine."

Archie leaned over to hold out his free fist for Jay to knock, "Thanks. I'd probably die of a heart attack if this kept up."

"Nah," Jay shrugged, "your Yeerk would keep you healthy."

Archie groaned and dragged his hand down his face, "Please, god, can we call it anything but that? That's _such_ a dumb name!"

"Did you even read them?" Odie asked.

Archie shrugged, making a face that had a frown but neither Jay nor Odie really understood what emotion he was expressing, "If I did, I don't remember. But it's a stupid word."

"You should read them," Odie assured him.

Theresa and Atlanta returned, and Jay went off on his own, to leave Odie and Archie a little more time.

Atlanta poked at the strand connecting Archie to Odie's laptop.

"Can you feel that?" she asked.

"No—yes? Kinda?" he mumbled.

She flicked it again, "Does it hurt?"

"I'm going to be sick if you do that again," he told her.

He stared her in the face, and she grinned fiendishly before leaning down to flick it again, and Archie twisted so that he could pinch her in her side. She burst out laughing, and jumped back. Atlanta propped herself up on the table beside him, dangling her legs off the edge and kicking them absentmindedly.

"Did Dionysus find anything?" Archie asked, trying to take his mind off of things.

Atlanta shook her head, "He's gonna go over everything at the end, once he's got yours to compare it to. So we get to have a group reveal."

"Sounds good," Archie replied. He closed his eyes again, and went through breathing exercises to stay calm.

"What's it like?" Atlanta asked after a moment, "not, like, you don't know your parents or where you came from. I… I can't imagine that."

"It's weird?" Archie suggested, "I mean, I don't know anything else. Like I don't know if I used to like something but don't now, or if I had friends before waking up. I don't even know if I have family out there—which I probably do—but it's doubtful I'll ever meet them. And even if I did, what if they all suck?"

"What if you're like the Bourne Identity," Atlanta offered, "and you were actually raised by the CIA."

Theresa snorted, "There's no way the CIA would take someone like Archie."

"Hey!" he protested, "I could be CIA!"

Theresa rolled her eyes but said nothing.

"Got it!" Odie shouted, leaping to his feet.

"Got what?" Archie asked worriedly.

Odie turned his laptop just enough so that Archie could see the screen, "The file I've been extracting, I got it! That means we can disconnect now."

Archie went slack with relief, "Thank god—but you have to do it."

Odie made a face, "Dude it's in your body. You touch it."

Atlanta sighed and leaned in, unhooking Archie from the laptop. The metallic strand twitched slightly, and then quickly retreated back into Archie's wrist like it was being slurped up. Archie made a retching sound. The small hole in his skin healed.

Odie frowned at his screen, "It's still too scrambled for me to read, but I'm running a decoding program on it. In the meantime let's get down to Dionysus for our scans, and then hopefully it'll be done by then."

Archie got to his feet, "Okay, and then after I need to run. And no more cutting me open for the next little bit."

"You big baby," Odie laughed.

Archie held up a finger in Odie's face, "Remember what Jay said! 48 hours!"

* * *

><p>Less than an hour later they were all gathered in Hera's solarium to hear from Dionysus. Archie was flushed and sweaty from several laps, whereas Atlanta, who had run more than him, was looking very put together. She'd done so on purpose.<p>

Jay, Herry and Odie were sharing a bowl of popcorn and discussing what movie to watch that night. Neil and Theresa were sharing funny pictures they'd found on Instagram.

Dionysus cleared his throat, "So, I have good news."

They all fell silent, waiting.

"My machine works!" Dionysus cheered.

All seven teenagers were still waiting, and it suddenly occurred to them that the machine _working_ was the good news.

"And?" Hera prompted.

"Well," Dionysus frowned, "everyone is clear, except for Archie, obviously. No signs of any Yeerks in any of our young children. Except for Jay."

Jay's eyes went wide and everyone turned now to look at him.

"Except for… you mean I have it too?" Jay asked.

"You make it sound like herpes," Archie muttered. Atlanta stomped on his foot.

"But Jay gets hurt all the time," Herry said, "and he bruises really easily."

Jay grimaced, "Thanks?"

Dionysus held out two scans—they almost looked like x-rays—for the kids to see, "This is Archie in my left hand," he explained, "and Jay on my right. From what I can tell, Archie's Yeerk seems to be active and functional, at least it's sending electrical signals, whereas Jay's is not."

The left scan showed a bright network of lines throughout Archie's entire body. Jay had a similar network, but it was essentially dark.

Jay touched his wrist—the spot where they'd cut Archie open—nervously.

"So what does that mean?" he asked.

Dionysus shook his head, "I'm really, really not sure."

"We'll have to take a look," Hera said sadly.

Jay nodded, "Yeah. I want to know where these came from."

* * *

><p>In Chiron's study, in the quiet, Odie's laptop lit up and it finished decoding. A small icon appeared on the screen.<p>

It read '_Athena Project_'.


	2. Chapter 2

**Bit of a breather chapter here, for a little fun and still setting up some plot. Lemme know if you're confused about anything or if anything isn't clear! Thanks for all the feedback, and I hope y'all enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Archie had always known he had a dark past. He was one of thousands of kids who'd been kidnapped years and years ago and never found his way back to his birth family. He never learned his real name. He was lucky enough to be one of the few that came back at all. He'd been traumatized so badly by whatever had happened to him that he'd lost all of his childhood memory. And he'd accepted this.<p>

Part of him always hoped he'd learn the truth—that one day he could google his real name and find something other than comics. One day there would be an older couple who would have baby photos, know his real birthday and why his ankle was so bad or why he was so afraid of water.

On the other hand it didn't matter to him because even if he met his birth parents they would be strangers to him. He wouldn't know them and they'd be expecting the child—or baby—they lost. It would just be nice to know, he figured, but he'd accepted and was okay with the mystery.

At a time like this, though, when he had some serious questions and no hope for answers, Archie wished he had his memories.

* * *

><p>They were all gathered back in Chiron's study, and this time it was Jay on the operating table. Jay had been worryingly stoic the entire time, mumbling one-syllable answers and methodically rolling back his sleeve so that Chiron could open his wrist. He didn't even flinch when Chiron gave him the needle to numb his arm, or even when Chiron started cutting him open.<p>

"I think you're getting better at this," Theresa told Chiron. She was standing by Jay's feet and had a hand on his knee.

"Well I've gotten a lot of practice today," Chiron agreed. He was rooting around in Jay's arm with a pair of tweezers. Jay was watching the entire thing without breaking a sweat.

"Got you," Chiron mumbled, and pulled out a thread of silver, identical to the one in Archie. Using a pair of scissors Chiron snipped a section of it off and set it to the side.

"Now we can see if they're identical," Dionysus informed everyone. He picked up the sample and hurried from the room.

Chiron had only made a small cut in Jay's arm, and he removed the pins without any hassle.

"I'm sorry Jay, but it does appear that you and Archie are in this together," he said softly. Jay sat up, still holding out his arm. The wound wasn't healed yet.

"Okay Archie not knowing what happened to him makes sense because he has amnesia, but Jay? How could this have happened to you? And why only you two?" Odie sad.

Archie and Jay caught each other's gaze as they both froze. There was only one way their pasts intercepted.

"I do have a blank spot," Jay admitted, "when I was kidnapped, remember?"

"And Jay and I are the only ones who were taken," Archie finished, "this has to be connected."

Theresa leaned in to glance at Jay's wrist, "Shouldn't it be healed by now?"

Chiron frowned, "Maybe give it a little bit longer."

"Okay but if this is connected to the kidnappings, then does that mean that you were taken for a reason?" Atlanta asked, "like, to put this stuff into you?"

"But why would you kidnap a bunch of kids and turn them into terminators?" Neil continued.

"Hold on, guys," Jay ordered, "let's not jump to conclusions. There was no pattern to the kidnappings that anyone could find. Yes, Archie and I do have that in common, but it doesn't mean it's the only way this happened. I think we need to wait to find out more from Dionysus and what Odie can find. I mean, what are other ways that both Archie and I could have this… thing?"

"Contagious?" Odie offered, nodding at Jay's points, "like, one of you got infected and you gave it to the other. It is somewhat biological, so it's a possibility. I don't know where it starts though."

"Archie was obviously manufactured in a warehouse to destroy mankind," Neil replied, "he's going to give us all robot herpes."

Archie leaned over to punch Neil in the arm.

"Okay I think that's been long enough, why won't it heal?" Theresa asked, gesturing to Jay's wrist.

"Dionysus said mine was inactive," Jay thought aloud, "maybe mine doesn't heal me?"

"My apologies then," Chiron said to Jay, and went to healing his arm. They used magic to heal the worst of wounds, because it always took a toll on both user and recipient. Most injuries had to heal the old-fashioned way. Chiron healed Jay's inner tissues until the wound was mostly superficial, and then finished with six neat stitches, and taped a square of gauze for any excess bleeding.

"I'll have to come up with a good story to explain this," Jay joked, though no one laughed.

"Oh! My laptop!" Odie realized, "it might be done!"

He sprinted across the room to where he'd left his laptop to run, and tapped the sense pad at the bottom to turn off the screensaver. The screen remained black.

"Oh no," Odie moaned softly, and hit the power button. There was no response.

"Where's your charger?" Herry asked, glancing around.

Odie thought for a moment and then groaned in frustration, "I left it at home!"

"Let's call it a night then," Theresa offered, "we can go watch a movie and get an early sleep. A lot has happened today."

"Do you think this has anything to do with Cronus?" Atlanta spoke up, "I mean, pretty much everything in our lives revolves around Cronus now. Should we be worried?"

"Cronus may be dumb but I doubt he'd give us a way to heal ourselves. If it was him then Jay and I would probably be in big trouble," Archie shrugged. He shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets and rocked on his heels.

"Like I said," Jay repeated, "it's too early to jump to conclusions. Theresa's right. We'll give Dionysus the night to come up with what he can, and in the morning we'll get to figuring out what's going on."

* * *

><p>Herry dragged Atlanta and Theresa onto the couch with him as soon as popcorn was made.<p>

"Best seat in the house, ladies," he declared, "plus feel free to cling to me if you get scared."

Atlanta and Theresa both laughed. Theresa pulled the blanket Archie had slept under the night before off of the floor and tossed it across their three laps.

"Only if we get to snuggle," Theresa curled her feet up under herself, leaning against Herry's shoulder. Atlanta hummed in agreement and pulled Herry's arm over her shoulders.

"Done and done," Herry grinned.

Neil made his way into the room with his vegan popcorn, no salt. He squeezed into the spot beside Theresa.

"One spot left! Someone call dibs!" he shouted.

Archie stuck his head through the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. He and Jay were making normal, buttery, salty popcorn for everyone else.

"No fair, we're making popcorn! Herry should sit on the floor!" he called.

Herry pulled the girls tighter to his side, "Sorry guys, the ladies have chosen. I can't move."

"We're snuggling," Atlanta informed Archie.

Archie rolled his eyes and moved back into the kitchen, "Hey, Jay, you wanna snuggle with Herry?"

Jay was standing beside their air-popper and idly turning the bowl as popcorn fell out. He cracked a smile, "Hell yeah, Herry's super cuddly."

Archie leaned back to the living room, "Herry! Jay says you're the worst snuggler in the house! And you smell!"

Jay flicked a piece of popcorn that had overshot the bowl at Archie. He tried to catch it in his mouth and missed, then caught it on his foot and ate it.

"Tell Jay he can come in here and cuddle me like a man!" Herry shouted from the living room.

Archie took a bowl of popcorn from Jay and gestured to the living room behind them, "All yours."

"You're such a dick," Jay rolled his eyes, "but enjoy sitting on the floor."

Archie followed him through the doorway, "Absolutely. Odie always lets me be the big spoon."

Odie joined them from downstairs, and Herry shoved Jay into the spot between himself and Theresa. Archie and Odie sat back against everyone else's legs, sharing a bowl of popcorn between them.

* * *

><p>"So I've been thinking," Neil said as the movie started.<p>

"Always dangerous," Odie replied.

Neil nudged him with his foot, "I don't think these Yeerks are just magical miracle machines. That's gotta be a by-product."

"Oh?" Jay asked, curious, "why do you think that?"

"Because if they fixed everything, I mean, yours is turned off so it explains your huge chin—"

"My what?" Jay touched his face.

"—but if Archie's is supposedly working then how do you explain his nose?" Neil finished.

"Hey! What's wrong with my nose?" Archie snapped.

"You'd think that if these things fixed issues that Archie would actually be more attractive," Neil shrugged.

Archie slapped Neil's knee, "Shut up! I am totally hot! Jay! Tell him he's not allowed to make fun of me!"

Jay sighed, leaning back into the couch, "You're not allowed to call Archie ugly. Leader's orders."

"Okay, okay," Neil held up his hands in a placating gesture, palms out, "you're not ugly, but you're a soft five."

Archie sat up so fast that he knocked half of the popcorn out of the bowl, "Piss off I'm totally a hard nine!" Odie scrambled to sweep the cleanest pieces of popcorn back into the bowl with just his hand, glaring at Archie the entire time.

"In your dreams," Neil laughed.

"Bite me," Archie snapped, "I'm totally hot."

"I dunno," Theresa jumped in, "I happen to be an expert in hot men, and I gotta say Archie, you're a little lacking."

Archie stuck his tongue out at her, "Name one guy hotter than me!"

Theresa, to her credit, only glanced at Jay twice before answering, "Chris Evans"

"I'm definitely hotter than him," Archie replied instantly, just as Neil whistled and Odie said "Ten outta ten would bang."

"Get real," Atlanta laughed, "you are not hotter than Captain America."

"In fact, I'm so hot," Archie continued, "he totally thinks _I'm_ hot. Everyone thinks I'm hot."

* * *

><p>Their PMR's all beeped at the same time. The movie was barely halfway through and they all groaned.<p>

"It's Saturday night," Herry shouted, "you'd think Cronus would understand that we have things to do on Saturday nights!"

"Yeah," Odie agreed, "we're totally rocking the social life right now," and then his face fell into a serious expression, "dude, we never do anything on Saturday nights other than hang out with the people we live with or fight Cronus."

They were all making their way to the doors, putting on their shoes and grabbing the personal weapons they kept around the house.

Theresa pretended to flinch, "Well when you say it like that, I guess we are kinda hermits."

"Making new friends can come later," Jay reminded them, "right now we have a job to do. I want everyone's heads in the game—" Jay's eyes went wide as he realized his mistake and tried to cover up by continuing talking, "and so that means—"

"What team?" Atlanta screamed, opening the door.

"Wildcats!" everyone shouted back.

Jay slapped a palm over his face as he followed them outside, "Why do I even bother?"


	3. Chapter 3

_Authors notes:_ This fic as been sitting at 9999 words for over a year now and yall have no idea how many times I debated coming in and editing in one extra word just to change that.

Regardless, thank you to everyone who's been patiently waiting and to everyone who's left a comment! I do plan on finishing this story, but it may be a long period in between updates as I'm going to attempt to finish writing the entire story before I post any more chapters. Keep an eye on my tumblr (name's the same!) or my 'Class of the Titans' tag for any news/updates.

This fic is also up on Ao3 if you like reading over there better. (Name for the fic, and my name are also the same... hmm... coincidence? I think NOT!)

As for **warnings** this chapter: there's battle-typical violence, some mild language, and a wee bit of gore similar to what we've seen in the previous chapters, but mentions of a lot more blood. Everyone's okay tho, I promise.

* * *

><p>Hermes informed them over Odie's PMR that the Techno Greeks had spotted Cronus on some warehouse security cameras down by the docks. He was shockingly without his honor guard of giants, because he didn't go anywhere without them, but Hermes said they'd spotted a few human-sized characters with him. So be careful.<p>

"Good," Atlanta beamed from the backseat of Herry's truck, "I think a fight will do us all wonders."

"Damn straight," Herry agreed.

"Just a reminder," Jay turned in the front seat to try and face everyone, "we don't know what's going on with Archie and I—or if Cronus is involved—but we don't give him anything. We act like everything is totally normal until we know more, okay?"

Everyone nodded.

"Herry take this next turn," Odie instructed, "we should probably walk the rest of the way."

* * *

><p>Theresa shuddered as she climbed out of the truck. She could always feel Cronus' aura when he was close. It was like oil or insects sliding up and down her skin. A chill went down her spine and it settled uneasily in her stomach. Nothing she couldn't handle. Persephone saw to it that Theresa was strong enough to handle all of the sensations she encountered in dealing with immortals, but it was always unpleasant.<p>

The weight of her nunchucks, the soft sound of the chain clicking together as she moved, was a comforting feeling. She was a fighter and she was one of the best.

"We find out what he's up to before we go in," Jay instructed, "and remember Hermes said there might be humans with him. If they attack you: knock them out and keep going, but remember that they're probably being forced by Cronus to do his dirty work. We're here to fight Cronus, not humans."

Jay split them into two groups, Archie, Atlanta, Neil and Herry in one direction, and Theresa, Odie and himself heading in the other.

Jay had his sword drawn, though not extended. He and Theresa took lead, with Odie following quietly just behind them. The air was salty, and the sound of waves breaking on the shore filled the silence. The warehouses were all dark, with a few lights on the outside to guide the way.

Stretching out with her powers, Theresa searched for the dark waves of Cronus' aura. She ignored the drop in her stomach when she touched him—and when he noticed her. His powers reached out to find her, and she shoved them away.

"He's this way," she said quietly, and directed Jay and Odie into the shipping yard. There were piles of lumbar, piping and steel beams all used for construction. Here and there were large metal containers that were used to ship materials around the world on big tankers.

The lights were fewer in between in the yard, leaving large spots of darkness where an enemy could be waiting. Cronus wasn't moving so Theresa guided her group to the large open stretch where he was waiting, standing menacingly under a single shop light.

Cronus's voice echoed across the yard, "Children! You're right on time."

Jay flicked his wrist, releasing his sword, "What are you doing here?"

"Would you believe I was just out for a stroll?" Cronus has his hands in his pockets, looking for all the world like a casual bystander.

"No," Jay replied curtly, "what are you doing?"

Cronus chuckled to himself and comfortably shifted his weight to his other foot. Theresa's stomach dropped. Cronus was far too comfortable. Had they walked into an ambush? Were the others okay?

"There are some people I'd like you all to meet," Cronus said.

Theresa's mind flared out instantly, searching for other creatures. She found the others—they were conscious and under no distress which meant they were still scouting. She linked to Atlanta and updated her with a series of quick images, as that was the fastest way to communicate telepathically. She and Atlanta linked up a lot for practice and gossip, so it was easiest to communicate with her. They already had a language developed and Theresa didn't have to dumb down her message like she would for the boys.

There were four other minds in the yard—all flanked around Cronus. They were shielded from Theresa's mind and she couldn't get a read on them.

"We're not interested," Jay snapped.

"I think you should be," Cronus said, and the sneer in his voice made Odie's knees tremble, "my children are so excited to meet you."

"Children?" Jay echoed, and his mind was going through everything he knew about Cronus.

"Your only children are the gods—and they hate you," Odie shouted.

"True," Cronus acknowledged, "they are my biological, ungrateful brats. But I adopted, and I have to admit, I like my new family much more."

Four human-shaped creatures moved into the light surrounding Cronus. They were dressed in black—in modern human clothing—that only left them exposed at the wrists, and the top halves of their faces. They had half-masks on to hide their features except their eyes and varied in skin tone and height. From their hairstyles Jay could tell one was female, and made a quick assumption that there was one more female and two males. Their eyes were reflecting light like a cat, making them glow in the lamp light.

They looked mostly human, but so did many monsters from a distance.

"Care to introduce us?" Jay's grip on his sword tightened.

Cronus shook his head, "None necessary. These are my children, and they're not very happy with the way you've been a thorn in their Papa's side. Enjoy getting to know one another," Cronus addressed the four directly, "remember to show off—but no deaths tonight."

Then he vanished into the night.

"Who are you?" Jay called. Cronus's 'children' were standing in a line, facing them. They didn't respond.

"_What_ are you?" Jay asked after a moment. It was a very important question in their line of business.

None of them had any visible weapons but that didn't settle Theresa's nerves at all.

One of the four standing in the middle—the shorter one that might be a female—stepped forwards and gestured at them. She spoke—it was definitely a she—but in a language Theresa had never heard.

"Anyone else catch that?" Odie asked.

Jay's head was cocked to the side, "It… it sounded a little bit like Greek. I… I think."

Jay retracted this sword and held up his hands in an unthreatening gesture, "We don't want to fight! Do you understand English?"

The girl who had spoken pulled her hand back. She appeared confused about what Jay was doing.

"We don't want to fight," Jay repeated in Greek.

One of the boys standing on the outer right started laughing, pointing at Jay. The girl who had spoken made a sharp command and the girl on her left picked up a 16-foot steel beam.

"I think they want to rumble," Odie said quickly.

Something that big would give anyone without Herry's strength trouble. There was no way these four were human, even though they looked it. Theresa sent a plea for Atlanta to hurry.

The girl hurled the beam at them and Jay, Theresa and Odie all dove to avoid being crushed.

Cronus's children were fast—Atlanta fast—and Jay swung his sword broadside to parry a kick that would have broken his nose as he stood up from his dive.

Odie fired a bolt of electricity from his PMR, nearly catching the girl who'd thrown the beam. She jerked back, hissing, and shouted to her comrades in whatever language they used. The two men were targeting Theresa while the woman who'd first spoken was attacking Jay.

"Get down!" Herry shouted and the three of them hit the ground just as a shipping container sailed over their heads. It caught one of the boys across the face and he crumpled like dead weight.

Atlanta and Archie came in from the side—Atlanta attacked with a ferocious kick over Jay's head. Archie dropped down beside Theresa and the man they were fighting visibly panicked, shrinking away as Archie and Theresa advanced.

"Who are these clowns?" Herry demanded.

The man Herry had hit with the container stood up. He was hard to see in the dark, but his mask had been knocked away and he had been cut open from cheekbone to chin, and his face had been smashed badly. He looked human, and as he stepped into the light with a freshly healed face, he seemed to be no older than they were. He grinned savagely at their shock.

"Cronus's adopted psychos," Odie explained quickly, "they're fast and strong."

"Yikes," Atlanta grimaced, glancing at the other figures, "and wannabe ninjas I guess."

Archie snorted, putting his whip into his pocket since it was too dangerous to use on humans, "Hey, everyone goes through a Naruto phase."

The girl who'd spoken for the others, their apparent leader, snapped her head up at Archie's voice. She started shouting more orders,

"That's it! Time to cry home to papa!" Atlanta rushed the leader with a punch that had blind-sided all of her enemies on the past. The girl turned and caught Atlanta's fist only inches from her face.

No one was fast enough to do that.

She yanked Atlanta off-balance, and then punched Atlanta in the face so hard that Atlanta went flying.

"Hey!" Archie snarled, and the men in front of him and Theresa flinched back.

All four of them were as fast as Atlanta, and strong enough to wield steel beams as easily as Herry. Jay lunged at the girl who'd hit Atlanta and the other three opponents attacked.

Archie's whip was useless in close contact, and he was reduced to hand-to-hand combat. Theresa was using her nunchucks to be as defensive as possible. Herry was defending Odie and Neil from the second woman.

Jay narrowly avoided a jab that could have fractured his trachea. He kicked at the woman's knee, sacrificing his balance for a hit that left him and her on their backs. He scrambled to get up before she could strike again. None of the others could get an advantage like this—one on one. Cronus' children were too strong and spread the seven of them too thin. They needed to turn the fight to their favor.

"Retreat!" Jay shouted, "fall back! Split them up!"

Herry upturned a pile of heavy piping, just as Archie cracked his whip to break the chains holding them in place. The gang all safely fell back in the resulting chaos.

Theresa and Odie pulled Atlanta to the side to check on her. Her eye was starting to swell shut, the skin around was red and warm to touch, and her skin had split above her eyebrow and was trickling blood down her face. But she didn't have a concussion and was ready to keep fighting.

"We need to trap them—Archie and Atlanta go bait them—lure them to the southeast," Jay pointed to the far corner of the yard, "we'll come up with something there."

"Where did Cronus find these guys?" Neil complained.

"Jay are they speaking Greek?" Archie asked, "I recognized a few words from what I've read, but I'm not fluent."

Jay shook his head, "I don't know—it sounds Greek, but maybe it's a variant? I can't catch what they're saying either."

"Guys!" Theresa snapped, "we have to go!" Her pupils were outlined with a small ring of violet that indicated she was using her powers.

Jay turned to Archie and Atlanta, "Give us fifteen minutes—twenty if you can."

Archie grimaced, "Dude these guys are as fast as Atlanta—maybe she can give you that but I'm gonna sweat for ten."

"Let's go!" Atlanta shouted. She and Archie raced forwards to head off their four opponents.

Archie's heart was high in his throat, but his blood was rushing with adrenaline. He was itching for a good fight, even though his brain was telling him there was no way he could beat one of these goons one-on-one. But that was why the others came up with the plans.

He and Atlanta were going to have to separate in order to get all four of them to follow, and he didn't like the idea of letting Atlanta go off on her own where he couldn't back her up. But she was faster, and in this scenario he was the one who was going to be in more danger.

"Hey assholes!" Archie shouted into the dust cloud that was starting to settle. They'd be somewhere in there. Atlanta pointed their exit route quickly and both she and Archie braced to run.

"Over here! You wanna fight?" Atlanta yelled, "I've gotta pay you back for this shiner you gave me!"

Archie was accustomed to the way Atlanta moved when she ran, and so he was prepared for the shift in the dust that indicated someone was moving _fast_. It was the girl with the dark frizzy hair who'd thrown the beam earlier. She scaled the fallen pipes and launched herself at them with dizzying speed. Archie and Atlanta dove away from each other, forcing her to pick one or the other. On her heels were the two males—one without a mask and one with—and their Leader perched above them, surveying the area.

Atlanta didn't give them much time to think and fired several bolts of energy at them from her wrist bow. The man without a mask snarled and the leader pointed at Atlanta with a crisp order. The four separated: the leader and the man with a mask advanced on Archie, while the man without a mask and the frizzy-haired girl chased Atlanta.

Archie's sandals kicked up dirt as he ran. He ignored the pinch as rocks got between his feet and the sole of his shoes and focused on breathing. Next to Atlanta he was the fastest on the team, and on a good day he could keep pace with her for a little while. He needed this to be a good day.

Archie's heart was pounding as he followed Atlanta through their exit- a space between two massive piles of crates. From there they filed into a long, open row flanked by big metallic shipping containers. Atlanta dodged to the right to take the longer loop to where the others were hopefully putting together some kind of surprise. Archie banked left, and ran because his life depended on it.

He slowed just enough to look over his shoulder and make sure he was being followed. The leader and the man with a mask were right on his heels. Just as he turned around Archie spotted a small space between the shipping containers and threw himself into it. The two of them skidded past him, and he struggled to squeeze through. It was a tight fit and he was lucky he was still whip-thin and Athena hadn't succeeded in putting some more meat on his bones.

The leader was scrawny like he was and clawed in after him. The masked man shouted in frustration and Archie heard banging that meant he was probably climbing up the side of the containers. The girl was still inches behind him and Archie scrambled—banging his shins and knees and toes and hands as he propelled himself through the small space. He escaped like a dart, running blindly into the wider space between containers. It was still small, with only enough room for two or three people to walk comfortably, but it was dark with the lights being blocked by the tall walls of containers around him. Archie breathed a sigh of relief that Odie wasn't with him—he didn't want to deal with Odie's fear slowing him down. Not that Archie wasn't scared. He could hear his pursuers just behind him.

The leader burst out behind him and took a moment to orient herself. Her eyes flashed in the dark—like a cats—and then she was sprinting after him. Archie could hear a distinct _clang-clang_ of footfalls on metal above him, which meant the other guy was trying to get in front of him and cut him off.

Atlanta had given him some tips about running. She said there was always a point, right before she started _really_ running, where every muscle ached and she felt like she'd never get enough air to keep going. If Archie really wanted to challenge her in a race he had to break through the pain. Which, for the most part, he was learning. He was second-fastest on the team. While he'd never be as fast as Atlanta, he could still give the two goons on his tail a run for their money.

It was so dark that Archie was almost running blind. He was trying to peer into the shadows in the hopes of seeing another exit he could take that would slow one of them down.

His PMR crackled to life with Odie's voice, "Archie, Atlanta where are you? We're just about ready—start coming our way!"

Archie didn't have the time to respond. His muscles were screaming at him, pumping battery acid through his veins and he couldn't get enough air in his lungs to talk with if he tried. He hit the pain and he shoved through it, thinking about how effortless Atlanta made it look. If she could do it, so could he.

He ran into a tighter space without realizing, clipping his shoulder on the edge of a shipping container so hard that it spun him around and he nearly lost his footing. It was so dark that Archie wasn't entirely sure which way he had just come from, and his shoulder throbbed painfully. He struck out with his hands in front of him to feel his way further into the darkness. The footsteps of the leader behind him didn't slow down.

The darkness finally opened up into an area with some lighting. Archie stumbled out, his arm was nearly numb from the shoulder injury, and his breath was in ragged gasps. He wanted to collapse and never move again.

There was no exit. He was surrounded on all sides by tall stacks of shipping crates. The light came from a singular lamppost that was on the other side of a shorter stack. Most of the open area—not much larger than the kitchen in the brownstone—was bathed in darkness. Maybe there was a space he hadn't seen in one of the corners. The crates couldn't be directly against each other, there had to be somewhere for Archie to escape.

The man who'd been following from above landed in the middle of the space, blocking off Archie's exit.

"That was a good run," the woman said behind him. So they did speak English! She had some sort of accent, though Archie couldn't place it if he tried.

Archie wasn't sure where to turn. He was so out of breath he couldn't even come up with some sort of witty retort. He moved so that he didn't have his back to either of his enemies.

"But you can't escape us," the leader continued, moving forwards slowly, "we are stronger, faster and smarter than you. We are better than you, in every way."

"You're stupid," Archie wheezed out, because apparently he was five years old. He doubled over, putting his hands on his knees to gasp for air. If they hadn't killed him already then he was going to take the opportunity to try and not die from overexertion.

"You're working with Cronus," he said as a means of follow-up, "don't you understand he wants to destroy the world?"

"Papa will protect us!" the man in the mask said triumphantly.

Archie couldn't help the disgust that hit him, "Papa?" he repeated, "your 'Papa' hates you! You're nothing but tools! How stupid do you have to be to think Cronus is your _papa_?"

The man in the mask flinched back at Archie's rage. Oh, Archie thought, that might be useful. He'd have one chance to try and get past him and hoped there was a way out though that dark corner he'd spotted earlier. He had to rendezvous with the others any minute now.

The woman snapped an order at the man and he dipped his head submissively. Maybe she'd noticed him flinch too? In fact, now that Archie had a moment to actually think, the man had been afraid of him earlier too.

Archie's PMR cracked static. He could make out Odie's voice shouting 'Archie where are you? We're ready!'. The two henchmen snapped to attention, focused on Archie. They looked ready to spring and Archie didn't have enough breath back, or energy to fight back just yet.

"What does Cronus even want with you, anyways?" Archie asked, breaking the tension. He was close to the rendezvous point, but he wasn't sure if he would make it in time.

The woman circled slowly in front of Archie, her eyes an unnerving green-gold in the darkness. Human eyes didn't react that way, but that might be some sort of enchantment or magic on them. Cronus had to have been weaving some serious spells to make them all so fast and strong.

Archie was tempted to hold her gaze, but he couldn't forget the other man standing to his right and kept glancing between the two of them. His throat felt raw and he was starting to feel a chill from the cooling sweat on his body.

"Papa needs our help to change the world," the leader finally said, "the gods have let their humans destroy it. We are here to fix their mistakes."

"You're Cronus' clean-up crew?" Archie summarized, "that's really not a glamorous job. So what, when you finish ruining everything, where does that leave you? You're human too, aren't you? Or are you special?"

"We're human," the leader agreed, and Archie wondered if she sounded amused, "but not in the way you are hoping. We don't suffer your weaknesses."

"So you keep saying," Archie shrugged, and decided to take his chance, "but I think you're full of—MOVE!" Archie snarled as he lunged at the man. The man dove out of his way, just as Archie had hoped, and he started cursing and shouting as he realized Archie had played him. Archie ran full-tilt for the dark corner and just managed to make out a break between the shipping containers. It was narrow enough that if he could get in there they wouldn't be able to catch up to him.

The scream of twisting metal and heavy thunder of large things falling hit them just as the containers shuddered around them. The others must have sprung their trap—which meant Atlanta made it. Archie had a split-second to be relieved when he felt a foot hook around his ankle and he went down hard.

The fall knocked the wind out of him and he was dizzy as he turned it into a roll to get on his feet.

"A trap?" the leader growled, and she stared Archie down, no doubt sizing him up, before turning to the other man, "go check on the others. Make sure they've done what Papa asked. I will finish with things here."

The man hesitated a moment, glancing between Archie and his leader. Archie wondered if he was nervous about leaving his leader alone with Archie. For whatever reason this guy was afraid of Archie, so Archie hoped he still looked half as intimidating as he hoped.

"He's nothing yet," the leader pointed at Archie, "now, go!"

The man scaled the shorter wall—two shipping containers tall—with nearly one leap. Those were some serious spells indeed to let normal people do that.

"I'm nothing?" Archie asked.

"Not yet," the leader reminded him. She almost sounded like she was teasing him.

Archie's heel hit the metal wall behind him. He didn't have anywhere to go, save for the small space they were in now. The leader was looking to fight, he knew, but hopefully the others would be looking for him by now. Archie just had to last until then.

"What does that m—"

Archie threw himself to the side as her fist dented the metal where his face had just been. He jabbed her in the ribs with a right hook, and she brought up her knee to clip him in the chin. He was knocked back onto his ass, and he scrambled in the dust to get back to his feet. His limbs felt like lead, and not even adrenaline was helping to get him going. He jumped to avoid another swipe at his bad ankle and barely managed to catch the punch she aimed at his chest. Archie wrapped his hands around her wrist and dragged her down, off-balance, with him and he twisted to put him in a position to potentially dislocate her shoulder. Ares would be proud of his technique.

She stunned him by grabbing the front of his hoodie and throwing herself into his twist, leaning in to bite Archie's wrist so hard the skin broke and he let go of her hand, and shoved off of his chest in order to flip and land on her feet while he sprawled in the dirt. It happened so quickly Archie wasn't even sure that he actually saw any of it.

She was shaking out her arm as he stood up, and the narrowed glare of her eyes indicated that she probably hadn't expected him to be able to grab her at all. Archie took in a deep breath, and realized his lungs didn't hurt anymore.

Oh, he remembered. He healed. For whatever reason he had the… the _thing_ in him that healed him. Archie glanced down at his wrist, where blood was beginning to drip down to his elbow.

"Good as new," Archie muttered to himself. It would only be a little while until his arm started to heal. The fatigue he'd felt from earlier was even fading away. Why hadn't he ever noticed how quickly he bounced back from everything? His enemy wouldn't know that he was recovering his strength, she'd be expecting him to be worn down. That would be the only advantage he had.

His PMR came alive again. This time it was Jay asking where he was. They sounded frantic, and rightfully so. The woman met his eyes and Archie's stomach lurched. If she had it her way he wouldn't survive for his friends to find him.

She struck first, forcing him back on his heels to avoid her lunge. Archie dove past her and turned at the waist, hooking his leg around her knee to give him momentum to turn and get on her back. He rolled with his weight, grabbing her under the chin, and summersaulted in the air, throwing her over himself and into the metal shipping crate with a loud _clang_. That should knock her out for sure—unless Cronus' mojo had more surprises in store for him.

Archie had her mask in his hands now, and pure, stupid curiosity kept him rooted to the spot when he could have run back to the others and to safety. He wanted to know what kind of freak would work with Cronus. The other guy they'd unmasked had been young—like their age young—but what did their leader look like?

Just as Archie suspected she got back up. She looked a little dazed, and couldn't quite find her footing. Archie heard the heavy drops of blood hitting the ground and realized he must have thrown her harder than he intended. He might have done some serious damage. She took a step forwards, head down, and Archie's stomach lurched when he saw she'd hit head-first and had some serious head trauma. Her head was black with wet blood.

"I didn't mean to throw you so hard," Archie said before he could stop himself, "I can get you help!"

She started laughing; a deep, throaty sound like she thought whatever he'd said was absolutely hilarious, and then something in the blood glinted in the dim light. Archie felt frozen to the spot as he watched small metallic threads weave in and out of her short hair and through the blood, and a bone-grinding crunch as her skull was set back in place. She had the same healing stuff that he did.

"Hey," he shouted, "what is that? Why do you have that too?"

"Too?" she gasped, looking up at him finally.

Archie staggered back, his knees went weak and he fell over again.

"What the hell?" he shouted.

She had his face. She looked exactly like him. The same nose, the same eyes, the same long, narrow chin and high cheekbones. It was like staring into a mirror.

"Who are you?" Archie cried. His hands were shaking.

"What do you mean _too_?" she demanded, stalking forwards, "where have you seen—" she glanced at his arm, where the bite she'd given him had healed completely.

"Why do you look like me? What is Cronus doing?" Archie's back hit the cold steel behind him, and he started pushing himself up. He'd never felt so afraid in his life. This wasn't fear like he knew it. This was pure shock. His mind was numb, his limbs weren't responding. He was cold to his core and he couldn't stop shaking.

"Oh," she said slowly, and he could see the gears working in her head.

Archie felt a chill go down his spine, which meant Theresa had locked onto his position with her powers. The others were coming. That gave him a little courage.

The woman moved closer to stand in front of Archie. She grabbed his wrist to inspect it closer and he was so transfixed by her looks that he couldn't bring himself to pull away.

"You've been a bad boy," she said, tapping at the healed bite.

Archie laughed, a little more than hysterical, at how surreal the moment was, "Are you going to punish me?"

Her glowing eyes narrowed in the dark as she smirked, and this close Archie could see it was the exact same lop-sided grin he had in all the photos he'd taken with his friends. She leaned in close like she was going to share a secret and whispered, "Not yet. That will come soon."

"Who are you?" Archie demanded.

It was like staring into a mirror and Archie couldn't look away. She paused for a moment, staring into his eyes, and he felt her hand trail up his arm to touch his cheek. She opened her mouth and—

"Archie!" Atlanta shouted, and then the sound of Herry tossing aside shipping crates to get to him, "hold on, we're here! I'm gonna kick her ass if she's hurt you!"

The sound startled both of them. Archie locked eyes with the woman, wanted to beg her to stay so he could ask her more questions, but then she turned her grip on his face tight, digging her nails into the back of his neck, and pulled him down so fast Archie didn't have time to fight back before his face collided with her knee.

* * *

><p>"Archie wake up!"<p>

"Do you think the Yeerk doesn't work if he's uncon—oh, oh god there it goes."

"That is disgus—Herry if you're gonna be sick then stop looking!"

"This is the grossest thing I have _ever_ seen."

Archie could feel the pull and tug of his face knitting together, and cried out at the surreal sensation of his nose snapping back into alignment.

"He's awake!"

"Thanks, genius."

Archie forced his eyes open to find himself laying on the ground. The others were crowded around him, and his head was still ringing.

"Dude they did a number on you," Odie said, "thank god you had your Yeerk or else your face would have been inside-out."

"Might've been an improvement," Neil added.

"48 hour ban on insults!" Archie snapped, but his mouth was so full of blood that he gurgled half of them. Herry started retching again somewhere further away from him, and he could hear Theresa trying to sooth the poor guy.

"Do you think you can stand yet?" Jay asked from above him.

Archie pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, and before he could say anything Atlanta and Jay were both grabbing him under the armpits and pulling him up to support him between the two of them. The woman had really gone for overkill to knock him out, Archie realized. There was a growing sensation of grinding bones in his cheek, and another loud click as one of his cheekbones was reset. Atlanta, who happened to be on that side, grimaced badly.

"I never want to see or hear or just have anything to do with that again," she announced. Archie felt Jay shudder next to him.

"We caught two of them in our trap, though one fought out and still gave us trouble until the third joined," Jay explained, "all three of them got away though. Looks like their leader did a worse number on you though, bud. Lucky that Cronus told them not to kill us."

"You must've really pissed her off," Neil said, gesturing to Archie's face.

Herry and Theresa rejoined them as they all started limping back towards where Herry had left his truck. Herry looked exhausted and green with nausea, while Theresa was pale with bloodshot eyes that came from exerting herself with magic. They were leaning into each other and Herry was wincing with every step. Neil moved to hover helpfully over Theresa's shoulder in case she needed help.

"They broke Herry's ribs," Jay explained, "but we needed him to get to you, so Theresa healed him as best she could."

Archie pulled his arm off of Atlanta's shoulders long enough to wave a weak salute to Herry and Theresa. Theresa wasn't strong enough to completely heal serious injuries like broken bones. Even smaller injuries like cutes or scrapes knocked her out. For both of them to power through intense pain and exhaustion like that deserved a little more than a wave, but Archie didn't have the brainpower to think of anything better at the moment. He was trying to remember exactly what had happened to cause the woman to hit him so badly.

The image of the woman's face hit him in that moment.

"Did anyone see her?" Archie asked, and this time his words were much less garbled, "the leader? The other woman? Did anyone see her run away?"

"No," Odie confirmed, "I don't think so?" he glanced around the group in case someone had, "why do you ask?"

"I… I knocked off her mask," Archie said, and already he could feel his strength returning though he didn't pull away from Jay or Atlanta. He stopped and forced the group to stop with him so he could focus and make sure he wasn't dreaming, "she… she looked just like me. It was like looking in a mirror," his voice cracked a bit and he couldn't find it in him to feel embarrassed, "I don't… I don't know how that's possible but she looks _exactly_ like me."


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone! I'm back!

Originally this was supposed to be _several_ chapters and move the plot along much faster but the kids kept talking, everyone kept thinking and there were more jokes, pop-culture references and emotions to be had! So instead of a few shorter chapters, you get the gift of a nice long chapter!

**Warnings**: some language, otherwise nothing that you haven't seen in this fic already.

* * *

><p>Archie dreamed again about the home he wishes he had, and the parents that he'll never know. The dream feels concrete and real only at the edges of his vision and any time he focuses on something it blurs and fades into imagination. There's no fact for him here, only wish fulfillment. There's a sound, a beat that rattles Archie and he can feel it in his teeth. Something is pushing against the barriers of his heart, threatening to burst out. He tries to run down the halls and loses his footing, and falls and falls and falls. He can hear himself laughing as everything disappears.<p>

* * *

><p>Archie can't remember waking up with such a bad headache ever in his entire life. Or at least all three years of his life that he can remember. He's heard the others complain about headaches—Theresa has migraines which are apparently worse?—and Archie's been knocked silly during a fight and been a little woozy for a few hours after, but it's nothing like this. He may have to reconsider calling the others babies when they complain about their headaches.<p>

He felt like an actual zombie when he shuffled into the kitchen for breakfast. After the battle last night they'd all gone to Chiron to get checked over and get Herry healed. Chiron had taken most of the bruising from Atlanta's black eye, but her skin still looked a little discolored.

She was sitting at the table already, with Jay and Odie. They all looked exhausted still, even though it was after eleven. Archie waved a half-hearted hello and grunted at them. Only Odie managed a legible 'sup' in response.

Archie chugged a glass of water (maybe the headache was because he was dehydrated?) to wake himself up before joining the table. He helped himself to a slice of toast and nibbled while he decided on which food looked most appetizing.

Jay started talking before he set his tea down, "So I was thinking we should see if we can get security camera footage of last night—"

"No work talk at the table!" Neil announced as he walked in. He followed up with a loud yawn and stretched his arms high over his head, "and honestly no work today at all! Food is the only reason I want to get out of bed today."

"Amen," Odie agreed.

"I have homework," Atlanta sighed.

"Jay what are you drinking? Anything caffeinated?" Neil asked, heading for the teapot.

"Double-chai," Jay confirmed, tapping firmly on the stitches on his wrist to keep himself from scratching at them.

"Thank god," Neil exclaimed, "if I had to drink any of Herry's soothing non-caffeinated bullshit I think I'd die."

"Language!" Athena called from the living room.

Archie and Neil both jumped at the sound of her voice.

"Ellen reruns," Odie explained.

"I was wondering where she was," Archie said.

"So not to work-talk, but we do have _work_ to do today," Jay said, "can we all be at the school for one?"

"Herry and Theresa need to sleep," Odie said, "and I don't think we need them anyways."

"Good point," Jay agreed, "is everyone else okay with that?"

"If it's not too distracting I can bring my homework and get it done while you guys do whatever," Atlanta said.

"Whatever happened to 'Sunday is the day of rest'," Neil whined.

"Wrong religion," Jay joked.

* * *

><p>Archie was normally slow to start in the morning, and also consistently late to everything. He hadn't expected to be the first to arrive at the school, or currently be sprawled across one of the tables in the library waiting for the others because he hadn't been able to stay home. He had math and english homework, and while both would be easy enough to get through the thought of actually sitting down and trying to make his mind focus on stupid things like that seemed impossible. He'd been pacing the library long enough that his legs were sore, hence, laying on the table.<p>

It had taken all of 24 hours and his life was turning on its head. Archie was a cyborg with some sort of living robot inside him that healed all his wounds, and there was a girl out there who looked just like him. And she was working for Cronus. And she had the same healing thing he did.

"Look alive!" Odie announced as he and Jay walked in. Jay was carrying a bundle of wires and cables, while Odie was shouldering a huge laptop bag and holding his normal laptop in his arms.

"What's all that?" Archie sat up and dangled his feet over the edge of the table.

"This is gonna be our control center for today," Odie replied, hefting the large laptop bag onto the table beside Archie. Archie had to snatch his fingers out of the way to avoid getting them crushed.

"And what's in the bag? Rocks?" Archie asked.

Jay was plugging some cords into the outlets under the table, so Archie couldn't see his face, but he imagined that Jay was silently laughing at the joke.

"This!" Odie said proudly, and he took a moment to roll his shoulder loose before diving into the bag, "is my partner in crime!" he pulled out what had to be the thickest laptop Archie had ever seen.

"That's a cinderblock," Archie declared.

Odie looked offended and draped himself dramatically over the laptop, petting it fondly, "Don't listen to him baby, he doesn't know what beautiful is."

Archie rolled his eyes, "Oh my god. Whatever. Where did you get it?"

"She's a gift from Hermes and the Techies. Her name is Uhura and she's going to make all of our dreams come true," Odie was practically glowing as he started the laptop.

"Uh-huh," Archie said slowly, "Jay, I think we need to have mandatory 'Odie-goes-outside-and-talks-to-humans' time."

"For once we agree on something," Neil said as he and Atlanta entered the library.

"Will wonders never cease," Jay muttered, and he and Odie pounded their fists together.

"Sorry we took so long," Atlanta said, taking a seat at the far end of the table and dropping her backpack on it, "somebody forgot that Herry wasn't driving us, and then insisted that I walk with him."

"I get lonely," Neil shrugged, "so what did we miss?"

"Nothing yet," Jay confirmed, "but Neil do you want to help me grab the whiteboard?"

The whiteboard was exactly what it sounded like: a big dry erase board on wheels so they could write down any relevant information they needed or use magnets to pin up important things like pictures or articles that they needed for missions.

Atlanta reached out and tugged on Archie's hood to get his attention. He resumed sprawling across the table to put himself in comfortable talking distance to her. This also meant he was laying on her books, but he was okay with that. They made for a better pillow than the table.

"How are you doing?" she asked. She looked a little funny from the low angle and Archie resisted the urge to poke at her.

He shrugged, which crunched the corner of the page she had open and Atlanta snatched her book out from under him and swatted him with it.

"Ow! Uh, well, fine? I think? Like obviously I'm freaking out but I just want answers and that's what we're doing so… I don't know?" Archie found that people asking how he felt were often looking for specific answers. He'd learned to navigate through those conversations with most of the psychiatrists he'd seen, but his friends were too hard to figure out what they wanted to hear. Probably because they knew him so well.

"We're gonna figure this out," Atlanta agreed, "and it's all going to be okay."

She smiled at him and he couldn't help but mirror the expression. There were probably things he should say, or he should brush off the emotional vulnerability of the conversation, but it was a relief to have someone tell him everything was going to be okay.

The squeak of the whiteboard broke the connection and Archie sat up again. Neil was arguing for more colored markers, and to be allowed to write the notes this time. He and Herry had been banned from writing notes a few weeks ago after they'd gotten distracted doodling and completely tuned out the conversation around them.

"Odie are we good to go?" Jay asked.

Odie clicked away at a few more keys on the monster laptop, and then opened up his normal, smaller one, "Yeah, Hermione is a lot faster to boot up so we can start anytime now."

"I can't believe what a huge nerd you are sometimes," Neil snorted.

"Look sharp Neil," Jay tossed the dry erase marker at him, "do a good job and I'll personally buy you whatever colors you want."

"I've always wanted a sugar daddy," Neil winked at Jay, who rolled his eyes. Jay finally seemed to have realized that Archie was sitting _on_ the table and gave him a pointed Look, so Archie slid off the table and into the chair beside Odie.

"Okay so let's start by summing up what we know," Jay ordered. There was a noticeable shift in his body language, where his shoulders came up and he stood straighter. He normally crossed his arms when he got really serious, and stood with his weight on both feet.

"Archie's a cyborg with super healing powers who's going to infect the rest of us with his robot germs," Neil said helpfully.

"Archie and _I_ are both cyborgs," Jay said quickly. Archie was relieved that Jay kept throwing himself into the mix as well, making sure Archie wasn't singled out, but unfortunately Jay wasn't in the same boat.

"Yeah but mine is working and yours isn't, Jay," Archie reminded him, "I'm the only one with super healing."

"And a system I can sort-of hack and a crazy powerful firewall to keep me out," Odie said, "but I did get one file out."

"And?" Jay prompted.

Odie gestured to Uhura, "Running diagnostics right now, and then we'll know exactly what this bad boy is about. Though I can tell you one thing: it's called the 'Athena Project'."

"That's a little close to home," Jay said. He glanced over at Neil, who hadn't written a word yet and was angling his hand-held mirror so that the moustache he'd drawn on it with the dry erase marker would sit right on his face. "Neil," Jay sounded a little exasperated, and nodded to the whiteboard.

"Right!" Neil snapped his mirror closed and started writing.

"To be fair Athena is a name used in a lot of scientific stuff—it holds a lot of symbolic meaning," Odie offered, "so it might not mean _our_ Athena."

Jay nodded, "That's a good point. But speaking of close to home: Cronus seems to be working with humans now. That's not like him. He hates humans, but he's calling these guys his new children."

"They're super powered up," Odie said, "he's gotta be laying some heavy magic on them to make them that strong."

"But why not use some other magical creatures if he wants that kind of strength or speed? Why use people that he has to put so much effort into powering up?" Jay crossed his arms, tapping his fingers against his upper arms in a way that meant he was thinking.

"Maybe because he knows we don't fight humans?" Archie offered, "I guess it's a weakness."

"It would be very like Cronus to exploit that," Odie agreed, "but I'm also curious as to why _they_ are working for him."

"They're family," Archie said, and when the others looked at him curiously Archie realized that he hadn't updated on everything he'd learned last night. Getting your face smashed in really screwed with priorities apparently.

"Uh," he started rather eloquently, "the girl—the one who looks like me—and the other guy who chased me. We talked a bit."

"They speak English?" Jay asked.

"Yeah," Archie said, "or, at least, those two did. They said a lot of stuff, but they call Cronus their Papa and think they're one big, happy family. They're in it for the long haul: world domination and destroying the gods. Plus they think they're exempt from Cronus' anti-human opinions."

"Well we know they're not smart," Neil offered.

"Anything else?" Jay asked.

Archie nodded, "Well, there's the girl—the leader. I know I said it last night but it has to mean something that she looks _exactly_ like me."

"No one else saw her," Neil said, "plus it was really dark."

"She did mess your head up pretty bad," Odie agreed, "maybe you aren't remembering right?"

"No," Archie shook his head, "it was like looking in a mirror. She looks just like me. I want to know why."

"Poor girl," Neil said, and shuddered dramatically, "she'll never find love."

Archie leaned across the desk to steal Atlanta's eraser and throw it at him.

Jay intercepted it and tossed it back to Atlanta without breaking his concentration, "If she looks like you… what are the possibilities? Can they shapeshift? Is it magic or meant to throw you off?"

"Is she a clone?" Odie asked, and glanced at Archie.

"Uh, guys?" Atlanta spoke up, "what about the more logical question?"

They all fell silent as they tried to determine what Atlanta was saying.

Atlanta groaned and rolled her eyes, "A sister! Or like, just, Archie do you think you two could be related?"

Archie nearly laughed, "Related? No way! I don't have…" he trailed off as it hit him. He had no idea if he had siblings or not. Obviously at one point he'd had a mother and a father, but it had never occurred to Archie to think he had siblings. In all of his dreams or fantasies about what his life might have been, and what it could still be, there had never been a sibling.

Something felt tight in his chest and he couldn't quite breathe right, couldn't get enough air in his lungs.

"I don't… I don't know if I have siblings," Archie stammered.

Odie grabbed one of Archie's hands, and Atlanta sped around the table to grab the other.

"Archie, hey, take a deep breath. You need to calm down," Atlanta said.

"Dude it's okay, it's okay," Odie said.

"I never thought… I thought I was alone," Archie managed to get out. He was trying to breathe deep, to remember the techniques Atlanta had asked him to learn with her after her third anxiety attack. His breaths were shaky and sounded on the verge of being sobs. Archie didn't want to go that far. He'd cried enough as it was.

"We don't know, it's just a theory right now," Odie said, "but it is a logical reason for why you might look the same. But hey, she didn't recognize you, so maybe you aren't?"

"We're gonna figure this out, and we all have your back, Arch," Atlanta used her other hand to rub Archie's back. He let the two of them talk him down for a few more minutes before he pulled away, a little embarrassed for the outburst.

"Okay," he sounded weak even to himself, "whew. That was embarrass—I'm good now. Thanks."

Jay cleared his throat to take attention back, and Archie was grateful, "Okay. So we have Archie and I and our Yeerks, active or not. And we don't know how those got in us. The only connection Archie and I know of is that we both have amnesia corresponding to similar times. And we have Cronus now working with super-powered humans, one of which apparently has striking similarities to Archie. I think that's everything. Now, often times when seemingly random events happen to us they end up being connected somehow, but I can't see anything to connect any of this. It doesn't mean we can classify them as all unconnected events, but until we know more I think we should investigate these separately."

Archie took a deep breath and looked down at his toes, "Well, actually, there's one more thing."

Jay paused, and finally prompted, "Okay?"

Archie couldn't quite bring himself to look up from the floor, "The girl—the one who, you know—she has it. The…" he couldn't quite bring himself to say the stupid name Odie had given the thing inside him, "she has the… the healing thing. That I—me and Jay—have."

Archie expected it to go silent after he revealed the last of his info, but the other three immediately launched into loud shouts.

"What?" Odie said.

"What do you mean she has it too?" Atlanta asked.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Jay demanded.

"I'm sorry!" Archie shouted, "it was just, on top of everything else, I figured it could wait. My head was all screwy from getting knocked out and we were all tired and she looks just like me, I wasn't thinking clearly."

Jay breathed out heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose while he counted to ten. Everyone waited in silence until Jay looked up, calm again, "It's alright. Sorry for getting mad."

"I should've told you," Archie admitted, "sorry."

"But how do you know?" Odie asked.

Archie grimaced, "I, uh, I threw her too hard during our fight. I was just trying to knock her out, and I figured that Cronus had her mojo'd up pretty strong, so I didn't really hold back. But I did some serious—like massive brain injury, skull busting damage—and then I watched her head do the stitch-together thing that my arm did. I saw it with my own eyes."

"That's gross," Neil said.

"So they are connected," Jay said. He sounded defeated, "the question is why, and how… and _what_ these things are."

"That's a lot of questions," Atlanta said, "and not a lot of answers."

"Okay but I know where we can start," Odie said, and he gestured to his huge laptop, "everyone, let's see what this Athena Project is all about."

"Hold that thought," Neil said, "this sounds like it's going to be an all-afternoon deal and I am starving."

"Neil," Jay scolded.

"I'm hungry too," Atlanta agreed, looking up from her book, "can we take a quick break for snacks?" The doors to the library opened and Theresa and Herry strolled in.

"Sure you aren't just procrastinating?" Archie teased her. Atlanta stuck her tongue out at him.

"Was someone talking about food?" Herry called. He was carrying a large tub, and Theresa had what looked like a casserole dish. The smell of warm food filled the library.

"Athena thought you'd appreciate a warm meal," Theresa said, setting the dish on the table. She peeled off the lid to reveal a steaming lasagna.

"Hell yeah!" Neil shouted, "that's what I'm talking about."

"That's a lot of food for lunch," Archie remarked, glancing between the sizeable lasagna and whatever Herry was hefting around in the tub.

"Well this is for us," Theresa explained, gesturing to the lasagna, "and we're welcome to whatever is in the tub—"

"But you have to fight me for it," Herry explained.

"I'll take that challenge," Atlanta grinned.

"Please don't turn lunch into a fight," Odie pleaded. Herry set out paper plates and plastic cutlery while Theresa cut out pieces of lasagna for everyone.

"You guys didn't have to come," Jay insisted, "you were given the day off."

Both Theresa and Herry looked exhausted. Herry was moving a little sluggish and stiff, suggesting that his muscles were still aching even though Chiron had healed his ribs last night. Theresa was paler than normal, and that was saying something.

"This is important," Theresa insisted, and Archie looked away when she glanced at him, unable to handle the emotions in her look, "we aren't going to sit around when one of us needs help."

"Besides, if it was just an info-dump meeting, we can just catch up on the notes," Herry shrugged. He'd already eaten half of his own personal lasagna, right out of the dish.

"Yeah," Jay agreed helpfully, "do you want me to run through them with yo—_Neil_!" Jay finished with a groan, looking at the notes Neil had written down on the whiteboard.

Everyone else looked up to read what Neil had written, and promptly burst into laughter.

"What?" Neil played innocent, "I wrote down everything! Just like you asked!"

* * *

><p>"Neil has lost marker privilege for life," Jay announced.<p>

"I was doing my job," Neil pleaded, "you will hear from my lawyer about this."

"And this is a tyranny, so I outrank your lawyer," Jay fired back, just as fast, "so," he faced the group at large, "do we have volunteers for who wants to take notes?"

He held up the dry erase markers in one hand(a blue one had been discovered in Atlanta's backpack over lunch, and Atlanta, Herry and Odie had all made improvements to Neil's notes in blue ink already) Jay clearly hoped that this would be an easy hand-off. He was often too optimistic about the maturity of his team.

"I'd be happy to be Marker God but I'm busy," Odie gestured to the two laptops he was working with. Two! At once. The regular one that he dragged everywhere with him was Hermione, while the huge cinderblock of a laptop that growled like a diesel engine was named Uhura. Odie insisted that, despite her terrifying appearance, she was a wonderfully intelligent lady. Odie was, notably, a huge nerd with poor social skills so he would be the type to assign personalities to his belongings.

"Marker God!" Herry laughed, "sure, I'll totally be Marker God."

"No fair!" Atlanta shouted, "I want to be Marker God! I write faster than you!"

"You write tiny," Archie gestured at the board, "we can't read it from here."

"Do you think you'd do better than me?" Atlanta demanded, "because _you_ write in cursive. No one can ready anything you write!"

"Not true, my writing is beautiful," Archie snapped.

"It's excessive," Theresa joked, "but if this is going to be a big deal then I'll be 'marker god'. I've got the best handwriting anyways."

Jay seemed to agree with that and made to hand Theresa the marker.

Neil slapped his hand down on the table loudly, "I call favoritism bias!"

"Yeah!" Herry agreed loudly.

"I say we settle this the old fashioned way," Atlanta said.

"Yeah!" Herry agreed, and paused, "which old fashioned way?"

"No," Jay cut Atlanta off before she could say something ridiculous, "we're going to play rock paper scissors. Archie, are you in?"

"Nooo," Archie leaned back in his chair, "I'm happy to sit." Not to mention, having to stand still for a while often made his ankle ache, so he tried to avoid it as much as possible.

"Okay," Jay gestured to the table, "so between Herry, Atlanta and Theresa. Odd one out wins. I'll count to three, and then say go. Everyone understand? Okay: one, two, three, go!"

"Yes!" Herry shouted triumphantly, holding his scissor-hand high in the air while the two women, who had played paper, looked on in defeat.

"You always play rock!" Atlanta shouted.

"You're a sore loser," Herry brushed her off. He danced around the table to take the markers from Jay's hand.

Jay held on to them and looked Herry in the eye, "I'm wary to trust you after what happened last time," he said, "so understand this is a second chance. Mess around and you're banned for life too."

"I solemnly swear," Herry paused for a moment to draw his finger in a cross over his heart, "that I won't let you down like Neil did."

"Hey!" Neil protested.

"Against better judgement, I'm going to trust you," Jay admitted, "don't let me down."

He released his grip on the markers and as soon as his eyes were off Herry, Herry stuck his tongue out at Atlanta and Neil.

"Okay, so," Jay started them off, "what we're dealing with are a group of humans working with Cronus—who might all have superhuman healing like Archie does. And we still don't know where Archie's superhuman healing thing came from."

"No I think they all have it," Herry added, "I beamed that guy last night with one of those shipping crates, like _pow_ right in the face," Herry mimed punching himself in the face, "and that should have done some serious damage but he was up and fighting really fast."

Theresa nodded, "Yeah, I agree with Herry. I think all four of them last night have the Yeerk thing."

"Okay but if Jay and I have this thing too, what does that mean?" Archie asked.

"Well Dionysus said it's human in origin, so it can't be something Cronus is creating," Odie speculated.

"I thought Hera said humans weren't capable of making something like this," Theresa said.

"Well, yeah," Odie shrugged, "but Dionysus said it's not magical—which means the gods didn't have any involvement in making it. So it's gotta be human."

"It could be humans _influenced_ by gods," Atlanta said, "like maybe Cronus is telling them what to do?"

"I don't know," Jay said, "this seems to… subtle, for Cronus."

"Speaking of, like, we don't know the nature of how these things grow," Odie said, "so maybe you two only _just_ got them, or you've had them forever."

"Maybe it's an X-File," Neil suggested, "it could just be the government after all."

"Grow up," Archie groaned.

"I'm serious," Neil insisted, "if it's not magical then look at the next plausible thing! Bam—the government is experimenting on kids."

"Calm down Mulder," Odie laughed.

"It's a possibility," Theresa admitted, "because if this was something to do with Cronus then why would Archie and Jay have it? It's more likely that it's a coincidence—because they can heal these kids were drawn to working with Cronus—but the healing thing is something separate."

"So what's the benefit of being able to heal?" Atlanta wondered, "maybe it is the government? Wouldn't you want soldiers who can heal themselves in the battlefield?"

"There's my Scully," Neil leaned across the table for a high-five.

"Well," Odie spoke up, "we can try something and see where we get."

Everyone stopped to look at him.

"The, uh, file I downloaded from Archie," Odie explained, "Uhura's got it ready to go. I've tried running it but nothing I have seems to be capable of executing it, so…" he trailed off to look at Archie.

"I'm going to regret this," Archie muttered, "what are you saying?"

"We, uh, plug you back in and I run the program, um, in you," Odie said.

Archie groaned and slid his hands down his face, "I didn't think my life could get any weirder."

"You of all people should know better than to tempt fate," Jay laughed, "we've been there and done that."

"There isn't another way?" Theresa asked, "can't you just, like, analyze it? Without needing Archie?"

Odie shook his head, "Like, it's a program that does… something, obviously, but I can't tell you anything about it. The coding is way above me, and also, well, in code. It's a lot easier if Archie can tell us what it does."

"What if he doesn't know what it does?" Atlanta asked, "like, what if you run it nothing happens?"

"We won't know unless we try," Archie said bravely, "but nobody but Chiron comes near me with a knife, got it?"

"Okay we'll take a break before we do this. Neil, can you go find Chiron?" Jay asked, "and Herry, did you get everything?"

Herry smiled sheepishly beside the whiteboard, "Um, which part was I supposed to write down?"

* * *

><p>To their surprise, and mild horror, they didn't even need Chiron. While waiting for Neil and Theresa to find Chiron, Archie was nervously rubbing his wrist and trying to not think about the number of times he'd been cut open in the last 24 hours. He felt a small pinch like he'd accidentally scratched himself and when he looked down there was the wire poking out of his wrist.<p>

"Oooooh my god," he whimpered, "uh, Odie? Jay? We're good to go."

Atlanta glanced over from her books to see what happened and wrinkled her nose in disgust, "Gross," she said.

Herry retched loudly.

"You said you were gonna be cool for this!" Odie shouted at him.

"I lied!" Herry cried, "Arch, I'm sorry, I gotta wait outside, I can't do this."

"He lasted longer than I expected," Jay admitted.

Odie laughed at that, and then waved Archie over, "Okay, well, if we're good to go then lets get started. Gimme your hand."

Archie had moved to sit across the table from Odie while pacing nervously, so he sprawled across the table, arm outstretched, rather than walk around it. Jay gave him a Very Disappointed Look but Archie chose to ignore it.

"This is so gross," Odie mumbled, pinching the end of the wire sticking out of Archie's wrist and pulling it towards Uhura, "baby forgive me."

"You wanted this," Archie replied, looking away so he didn't get sick either.

Odie started typing away on his laptop in lieu of a response.

"Okay so this is the point where I ask if this is safe, right?" Archie asked.

"And this is the point where I say a lot of big words to confuse you," Odie replied, pausing.

"Meaning you don't know?" Archie summarized.

"Yeah," Odie admitted, "by all accounts if it's something that was… well, already in you, then you should be fine? I think? But like, really, what's the worst that could happen?"

"You really want to ask Archie what's the worst that could happen?" Atlanta snorted, "don't you remember the whole Phobos deal?"

"I was cursed!" Archie protested, "you know I'm a total daredevil!"

Atlanta pinched her nose to change the sound of her voice and started imitating Archie, "Atlanta! What if that cut gets infected! I can't ride my skateboard because it's too scary! Atlanta you're going to fast! Atlanta help me open the pickle jar!"

"I hate pickles," Archie protested, "and I do not sound like that! Jay! She's making fun of me!"

"Atlanta has a free pass to do that," Jay shrugged, "sorry Arch, nothing I can do. But Odie—_is_ this safe?"

"Well, I can't give you a 100% yes, but, the margins should be slim enough that we don't have to worry. I can't imagine that anyone would install a self-destruct program in such an elaborate machine and not label it as such," Odie explained, "so, I think we're okay?"

"You think?" Archie repeated, and groaned loudly, "oh my god I'm going to die."

"For real though," Atlanta said, "I'm not comfortable with this if Archie's in danger."

"Odie?" Jay prompted again.

Odie paused typing, "Okay, um, I'm going to give you a 95% chance that this is totally fine. Actually, no, like 97%. Besides, if we don't do this, we might miss out on some really vital clues. Maybe this is just a schematics program that will actually tell us how Archie got the Yeerk?"

"Archie?" Jay asked, "it's your call, in the end. I won't force you, and there's no shame in backing out."

Archie was quiet a little while. On one hand, they could potentially learn a lot of useful info to help the new mission they were on. On the other, there was a small chance that this could hurt him.

"I have super healing powers now," he declared bravely, "what's the worst that could happen? Let's do it!"

"That's the spirit!" Odie shouted, and went to work on his laptop.

* * *

><p>"I thought you said you were ready to go," Archie complained. He'd gotten bored laying down so now he was sitting up and hovering impatiently over Odie's laptop, "it's been <em>hours<em>!"

"It's been like five minutes," Odie muttered, and paused a moment to swat Archie's hands away from pressing random keys on his keyboard, "so calm down. Count to 100 or something. I'll be ready in like thirty seconds."

Archie groaned loudly and glanced around. Jay was rewriting the meeting notes because he hadn't been able to handle what Neil had written and everything Herry had missed. Atlanta was scribbling away at her homework. She seemed to notice Archie's gaze on her and glanced up with a scowl.

"Don't bother me," she warned. As soon as she looked down Archie reached out to yank her ponytail because she was just asking for it now, but she slapped him with a lightning-fast ruler on his hand.

"Cheater," Archie mumbled. It was unfair of her to use her powers outside of battle like that.

"Okay!" Odie announced, "is everyone ready? Should we do a countdown?"

"100! 99! 98!" Atlanta shouted.

Odie rolled his eyes, "You're fired, never mind, we're not doing a countdown." Atlanta laughed loudly.

"Yeah!" Archie shouted, pumping himself up, "okay! Hit go! I'm ready!"

"Are you sure?" Jay asked calmly, killing the exciting vibe in a way that he had almost perfected, "Arch, this is your last chance to back out if you're worried about anything."

Archie shook his head, "Already made up my mind. Lets play tetris on my hardrive!"

"Title of Odie's sextape!" Atlanta shrieked, and burst into hysterical laughter.

"That doesn't even make sense!" Odie shouted defensively.

"Sex tape jokes are banned," Jay reminded her.

"Only because you can't take a joke," Atlanta teased.

"I was trying to teach all of you how to sail," Jay sounded exasperated, "but you wouldn't stop with the jokes!"

"You were just setting yourself up," Atlanta explained, "Herry would have died if he'd tried to hold them in any longer."

"Hey!" Archie cut in, "I'm putting my life on the line here, some respect please!"

Odie looked around to make sure everyone was watching, "Everyone ready? Okay, three, two, one—liftoff!" He dramatically clicked 'go' and everyone waited silently, staring at Archie.

Archie was staring intently at his wrist, where the wire was connecting him to Uhura. He looked relatively calm, in the silence of the room and the tension of the moment. Uhura was humming away, clicking every so often in a way that made Odie instinctively whisper 'shh, it's okay'.

Suddenly, Archie fainted. Without a word he dropped heavily onto his side, sprawling across the table.

"Archie!" Atlanta leapt to her feet, and was halfway onto the table when Archie started laughing.

"Tricked you!" Archie laughed, sitting up again, "and you all fell for it!"

"Are you okay?" Jay insisted.

Archie shrugged, "I don't feel anything. I just thought it'd be funny."

"You asshole!" Atlanta growled, and punched him in the arm.

It happened so quickly that they heard the sound of Atlanta forcefully hitting the table before they registered that Archie had attacked her at all. One moment she was swatting him, the next he'd grabbed her and forced her down, so quickly that he'd already released her and jumped away before she could recoil from the impact.

"Archie!" Jay shouted. Odie dove away from the table and out of the danger zone. Jay rushed in to check on Atlanta while Archie scrambled away.

"I—I didn't—I didn't, I don't know? I didn't mean to hit her—I don't know what happened! Oh my god, Atlanta, are you okay?" Archie was shouting, almost incomprehensible.

Atlanta was slowly pushing herself up, with Jay hovering nervously over her.

"I think you hit your head," Jay said nervously, and stood up straighter to shout, "Herry! We need Chiron! Now!"

Outside the door they heard Herry's muffled shout, "On it!"

Jay whipped around and he was furious, "Archie what the hell? That wasn't funny at all!" he left Atlanta with Odie, who'd crept up beside him. Jay stalked around the table to get in Archie's face.

"I wasn't joking, I'd never do that!" Archie held out his hands, placating, "the fainting was one thing but I don't hurt people!"

"Then what happened?" Jay demanded, and he grabbed the front of Archie's hoodie to get his point across. No one hurt people on his team without consequences, "why did you hurt her?"

"I don't know!" Archie stammered, and in the same moment he yanked Jay forwards and kneed him hard in the chest, winding him so Jay didn't have a chance to react when Archie flipped him over and slammed him hard onto the desk.

"What the hell!" Archie shouted, "what's happening? It's not me! It's not me! Oh my god it's not me!"

He turned and ran for the opposite end of the room, pressing himself tight against the wall and staring in teary, wide-eyed shock at his friends that he'd just attacked.

Jay groaned painfully, pushing himself into a sitting position as Chiron, followed by the rest of the team, burst into the room.

"What's going on?" Theresa demanded.

Odie was helping prop Jay up, and since Jay was still too winded to speak he took charge, "No one go near Archie! Stay where you are!"

Theresa noticed Atlanta sitting at the desk with her head in her hands and rushed to her side, "Did you do this?" Theresa asked, looking up at Archie.

Archie was pressed flat against the wall, and shaking so hard his ankle brace was rattling, "I didn't mean to. I don't know, I don't know what happened— I didn't mean to!"

"What do you mean you didn't mean to?" Theresa stood up and started stomping towards Archie, in a rage, "you hurt them! How could you not mean to hurt them?"

"Theresa, stop!" Jay shouted. It was more of a wheeze, and he went into a coughing spell immediately after. She paused at the order.

Odie hefted Uhura into his arms.

"I have an idea," he said, "I think it's the Athena Project."

"The what?" Neil asked.

"The program!" Odie explained angrily. He ran Uhura to a desk closer to Archie. Archie shrank back, afraid to let Odie be anywhere near him, "Archie, you're responding to both times Atlanta and Jay went to potentially attack you. I think it's a fighting program, or at least, it's meant for you to defend yourself."

"But I don't want to hurt them!" Archie shouted.

"For some reason it can't tell the difference," Odie insisted, "like, you, Archie, know that Jay and Atlanta would never hurt you, but the program just sees a punch, or a grab, and so it responds. Now, I just need you to stay calm, okay? I need to hook you up to Uhura again."

"No!" Archie stepped away from Odie, "I'll hurt you! Stay back!"

"If Archie's going postal, then maybe we should send in the big guy? I'm just saying," Neil announced, gesturing at Herry.

Odie backed away from Uhura, "Okay, Arch, you hook yourself back up. Lay on the table and I'll come in and deactivate you, okay?"

Archie shook his head, "No, you'll be in danger. I don't want to hurt anyone else."

"Archie, do it!" Atlanta snapped. She was still crouched over, with Chiron starting to heal the injury to her head.

Archie gulped at the order and nodded bravely, "Okay," he said to himself, "okay, Odie, stand back."

Odie backed away to stand with the rest of the group. Jay was back on his feet, and other than wrenching his shoulder he was okay. Archie moved forwards slowly, keeping his head down and his eyes focused on Uhura. He was rubbing at his wrist since the wire had gone back into him when he'd torn away from the laptop in a panic.

"C'mon, c'mon," he mumbled, "c'mon you stupid wire."

Archie perched on the desk again, hovering beside Uhura. He was afraid that he was going to lash out and break the laptop without knowing how to stop himself. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced—his body was moving without his consent and he was attacking people with speed and strength he didn't have.

He felt the familiar tingling in his wrist and the wire slipped out of his skin, making Archie queasy at the sight of it. Without gagging he plugged himself in, and then moved as far away from Uhura as the wire would allow.

"Odie? Are you sure?" Archie called.

Jay reached out to touch Odie's shoulder as if to reaffirm Archie's question. Odie nodded decisively and started marching forwards. He realized his mistake after a minute and slowed down. It felt like it took forever for him to make his way across the room.

"Easy buddy, I'm not here to attack you," Odie said soothingly.

"I know that," Archie insisted, "it's not me that's hurting anyone."

"The Yeerk," Odie confirmed with a nod, getting closer, "okay, here, I'm going to reach out—slowly—and start typing on Uhura. No threat. Archie's Yeerk, please don't hit me."

Odie moved agonizingly slow, even when he started typing. Archie was determined not to hurt one more of his friends and was focused on staying entirely still. Across the room everyone was holding their breath, afraid of what could happen to Odie.

"Okay," Odie said softly, "just a few more buttons. It's gonna be okay, Arch."

The keystrokes sounded impossibly loud in the silence, and part of Archie wished someone would crack a joke just so it wouldn't be so tense, but feared that if someone talked or if he laughed that he'd lose control and attack Odie.

"Aaaand there," Odie said, and turned to grin at Archie, "we're deactivated. You should be good."

Archie pulled away slowly, still worried about hurting his friend, "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah," Odie nodded, "you're okay. It was the program making you hurt people, not you."

Archie still looked troubled, and like he might go into one of his moods. He was notorious for retreating into his head when something bad like this happened, for days if not weeks at a time, even when it wasn't his fault.

Atlanta sped across the room and tackled him off the table.

"You jerk!" she shouted, "you scared us!"

Archie was frozen in fear, even when they toppled off the table and hit the floor, but he didn't attack her.

Atlanta sat up smugly, "See? You're fixed."

"I hurt you," Archie insisted, and then sighed, "I'm really sorry."

"I'm fine," Atlanta knocked on her head, and winced, "okay, maybe a little headache, but algebra was doing that to me anyways."

She jumped to her feet and held out a hand to help Archie up. He took it gratefully. Atlanta always knew when to force him out of his thoughts. Sometimes literally.

"Good work Odie," Jay said.

"Uh, sorry," Archie said to Jay, "I know, we're going with it wasn't me—and it wasn't—but I'm sorry."

"We're cool," Jay said, "sorry I didn't put it together before. I should've known you wouldn't hurt anyone," he held out his fist, "we good?"

Archie knocked knuckles with him, "We good."

"So what the hell was all that!" Neil shouted, gesturing between Atlanta, Jay and Archie.

"The Athena Project," Odie explained, "it has to be. It's wired into the Yeerk and must take sensory input from Archie—which, y'know, makes sense since it's apparently infiltrated all of Archie's systems."

Archie frowned, "That sounds gross."

Odie continued without acknowledging him, "So it takes cues from Archie, and is designed to attack—or at least defend—from any threat to Archie. I wonder if yours had the same capabilities before it stopped, Jay."

Jay shrugged, "I wish we could know."

Odie was still running through his thoughts and barely heard Jay's reply, "Okay, so, we have Archie—and Jay—with Yeerks and we still don't know where they came from. We know that when they're active they heal wounds—even broken bones—and that they have computer systems or close enough that they can run programs. I wish I could see if there was a hard drive or a mainframe integrated somewhere in your body or where the processing power is produced."

"No cutting me open without Chiron," Archie reminded him, "and even then I'm nervous about it."

"One more thing," Jay said, "Archie you were fast, like, really fast."

"Like _me_ fast," Atlanta agreed, "it wasn't normal."

Odie lit up and he and Jay were looking at each other like they were the only ones in the room.

"Here goes the mind meld," Theresa observed.

"As in fast enough that you're faster than any normal human," Odie said.

"And strong too, maybe even strong enough to rival Herry," Jay continued.

"Hey!" Herry interjected. He wasn't sure if he should be offended or not.

"A fighting cyborg who can heal? We're definitely talking government conspiracy," Neil nodded sagely, "I have seen at least _three_ movies about this."

"This is perfect!" Odie shouted.

"Cronus won't see it coming," Jay grinned.

"What are you two talking about?" Theresa asked.

"We have a secret weapon," Odie said.

"We have a secret weapon," Jay agreed.

They looked up at Archie at the same time.

"Whoa," Archie said, "that's weird. Why are you—wait, what? Am I the secret weapon?"

"Think about it," Jay said, "if we can hook Archie up in a fight—"

"—then we'll have someone who might be able to go toe-to-toe with Cronus' kids!" Odie finished.

"I wish I could describe what it's like to watch you two be weird like this," Neil said.

"_Might_," Archie stressed.

"It's the best we've got," Odie admitted.

"Right now," Jay reminded them, "we'll figure something better out."

"I don't like putting all this pressure on Archie," Theresa said, "besides, how are you going to do… whatever that makes him like that, in the middle of a fight?"

"The rest of you will have to buy us a few minutes," Odie admitted, "and then we'll all have to be sure to stay away from Archie until I deactivate him."

"I might be with Theresa on this," Archie said slowly, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was saying, "I mean, of course I'm all in if it'll help us against those weirdos, but, Theresa's right. Is it worth me being a potential danger to the rest of you?"

"It's the best we've got," Jay repeated.

"Right now," Odie finished his sentence.

"Okay," Archie agreed, "if that's the plan, then I'm in. But you all have to make sure you stay far away from me. I… I don't like it. I wasn't in control of anything I did, and so I won't be able to stop myself from hurting you if you get too close. We clear?"

"Crystal," Atlanta said.

"Okay," Jay announced, "meeting over for today. Chiron," Jay turned to face their healer, "are Atlanta and I good to go? Yeah? Okay, everyone's dismissed. As always I highly encourage everyone to do their homework, but I know that none of you ever listen to what I have to say anyways."

* * *

><p><strong>End chapter 4<strong>

Also, as a special treat I have a mock-up of Neil's whiteboard notes which I'll be posting on my tumblr _and_ in the Ao3 version of this chapter. I'm having some computer trouble so you'll see it in the next 24 hours, hopefully!

If you're looking for my tumblr, the name is the same!

Thank you to everyone who left such nice reviews! I love hearing from you, and especially hearing what you like best, or if anything made you laugh. (Or cry, too, but we aren't there... yet)


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